Reading impairment in Duchenne muscular dystrophy: A pilot study to investigate similarities and differences with developmental dyslexia.

Astrea et al. (2015) compared reading skills in boys with Duchenne muscular dystrophy (DMD) to boys with developmental dyslexia. They wanted to see if the two groups struggle in the same way.

The team gave quick naming, phonological, and reading tests to a small group of boys with DMD. They then matched the scores to published norms for dyslexia.

Boys with DMD showed a mild version of the dyslexia profile. They named pictures and letters more slowly and had weaker phonological skills than expected for their age.

Reading accuracy was lower than typical, but not as low as in true dyslexia. The pattern looked similar, just less severe.

Cheng et al. (2011) seems to disagree at first glance. They found that Mandarin-speaking children with developmental coordination disorder (DCD) had writing problems yet normal reading. The difference is script: the DMD boys read English, while the DCD children read Chinese characters that give visual clues. Same motor disorder risk, different script, different reading outcome.

Klusek et al. (2015) used the same kind of tests in boys with fragile X. Both studies link poor phonological awareness to later reading trouble, showing the skill matters across single-gene disorders.

Sorenson Duncan et al. (2021) meta-analysis in autism echoes the point: phonology and word reading both feed comprehension. The DMD data add another group where phonology checks should come early.

If you work with boys with DMD, add a quick phonological screening before they start formal reading. Catch the slower naming speed and weak sound play early, then fold phoneme-level drills into your standard literacy plan. Small step now can prevent larger reading failure later.