Phonetic speech perception deficits in dyslexia.

Adult developmental dyslexics showed deficits in the identification of the vowels of English when the sole acoustic cues were steady-state formant frequency patterns. Deficits in the identification of place of articulation of the English stop-consonants [b], [d] and [g] in syllable-initial position were also observed. The average consonantal error rate was 22%. These error rates are significantly different from those of nondyslexic control groups (p less than .01). No single deficit characterized the entire group of dyslexic subjects. The pattern of errors with respect to place of articulation also varied for different groups of subjects. Three dyslexics have high vowel error rates and low consonantal error rates. The data are consistent with the premise that dyslexic subjects may have different perceptual deficits rather than a general auditory deficit involving the rate at which they can process perceptual information. The clinical histories of the present subjects suggest genetic transmission of these speech perception deficits. The presence of genetic variation in the biological substrate relevant to the perception of human speech should be further explored.

[Maternal and child health: a proposal for preventive care during pregnancy, labor and puerperium]. / Salud maternoinfantil: propuesta de prevención durante el embarazo, parto y puerperio.

PIP: This paper presents a proposal for preventive care during pregnancy, labor, and puerperium; such care should be implemented by one interdisciplinary team with 3 main tasks: of education, control, and assistence. The professionals engaged in the proposal would be a trained midwife, who would contact the woman and give preliminary information; an obstetrician, who would be in charge of lectures on psychoprophilaxis available to all expectant mothers, and who would also be in charge of the delivery; a pediatrician, to control the baby after birth and to guide the parents about proper care for the infant; and a psychologist, to help the couple with any conscious or unconscious problems. The method proposed can be modified in function of its implementation in a private clinic or in a public service institution, which cater to different types of patients. Participation of the father is encouraged at every stage of the program, including delivery. The program has already been tested in a private clinic, with excellent results.^ieng