Exploring the contribution of set for variability in explaining reading development in typical and dyslexic readers

Set for variability (SfV) has been shown to be a strong predictor of reading outcomes in developing readers. In this study, we explore SfV as a predictor of word reading and nonword reading ability in typically developing children and children with dyslexia. A sample of 249 elementary school students was administered a battery of reading related measures (i.e. SfV, vocabulary, phonological awareness, rapid automatized naming, attention) and a set of word level reading measures (sight word reading efficiency, phonemic decoding efficiency, word attack, word identification) to measure word and nonword reading. We hypothesized that the task SfV would serve as a unique predictor of word and nonword reading above and beyond phonological awareness and other reading level measures. Additionally, we predicted that between group differences on SfV would exist between the subgroups of typical and dyslexic readers within our sample. We observed that SfV was a unique predictor, but that no realistically significant difference exists on this measure between groups. In sum our results support the connectionist model of reading, but further research is necessary to investigate the full implications of SfV.