[Phoneme discrimination and dyslexia. Is the correlation gender-specific?].

Amongst pediatric phoniatry patients, the number of boys suspected of having dyslexia and/or an auditory processing disorder dominates over the number of girls. The aim of this study was to analyze whether there are different correlation patterns between phoneme discrimination and spelling ability in male and female children. Data from 253 children aged between 7 and 13 were analyzed retrospectively. Phoneme discrimination was assessed via the Heidelberg phoneme discrimination test and compared to the results of spelling and intelligence tests. We found a highly significant correlation between phoneme discrimination and spelling ability within the whole population (girls: r = 0.337; boys: r = 0.437) at an average IQ of 107. Results of the Heidelberg phoneme discrimination test were below the normal average value and showed no difference between the male and female populations. However, the correlation between phoneme discrimination and spelling ability was higher for the boys than for the girls. We conclude that female children are better able to compensate their deficits in speech processing than male children and perhaps employ other strategies for spelling.