VISUOMOTOR INTEGRATION, EXECUTIVE FUNCTIONS, AND LEXICAL ACCESS AS CANDIDATE NEUROCOGNITIVE MARKERS OF READING PERFORMANCE IN SCHOOLCHILDREN AT RISK FOR DYSLEXIA

Abstract

This study investigated the relationships among visuomotor integration, executive functions, lexical access, and reading performance in schoolchildren at risk for dyslexia. Twenty-five third-grade students aged 8–9 years completed measures of rapid automatized naming, naming errors, self-monitoring, reading comprehension, visuomotor performance, and visuomotor screening. Spearman correlations, age-adjusted partial correlations, false discovery rate correction, and hierarchical regression models were applied. Self-monitoring was strongly associated with rapid naming time (ρ = −0.774, p < 0.001), visuomotor performance (ρ = −0.596, p = 0.002), and reading comprehension (ρ = 0.544, p = 0.005). Rapid naming time was also associated with reading comprehension (ρ = −0.531, p = 0.006) and naming errors (ρ = 0.524, p = 0.007). Rapid naming explained 22.7% of the variance in reading comprehension, whereas the addition of self-monitoring and visuomotor performance increased R² without significant incremental effects. The findings suggest that executive monitoring, lexical access, and visuomotor integration form an interconnected neurocognitive organization associated with reading-related performance in children at risk for dyslexia.