**3. Prevalence of dyslexia in Spain**

and 22 consonants), each of which represents a unique sound, and five digraphs (ch, ll, rr, gu, and qu). The last three are considered positional variants of the phonemes/r/, /g/ and /k/; two diacritical marks: stress mark or acute accent ('), and dieresis (¨). Therefore, grapheme‐phoneme correspondences are predictable in reading, but this does not occur in writing, where inconsistent phoneme‐grapheme correspondences are added, producing phonemes that correspond to several graphemes. For example, eight consonant phonemes can be represented using more than one grapheme: /b/(B, V, W), /k/(K, QU, C), /g/(G, GU), /x/(G, J), /j/(Y, LL), /rr/(R, RR), /Ø/

In addition, Spanish is regarded as a syllable‐timed language [2], whereas English is considered stress timed [3]. Syllables are the most consistent sub‐lexical units in regular orthographies such as Spanish [4], and 88.73% of the Spanish syllables have a very simple syllabic structure with the CV, CVC, V, or VC combination [5]. The longest syllable has five graphemes with a maximum of two initial consonants that rarely appear in coda position. Some geographic varieties of Spanish differ from each other in terms of phonology, but this does not seem to cause comprehension problems between speakers [3]. Fundamental supra‐segmental features are stress and intonation. The stress in Spanish marks intensity, and it falls on one of the last three syllables in the word, counting from the end (e.g., paroxytone words, oxytone words, and proparoxytone words). Intonation is the melodic curve the voice traces when uttering sentences. On the basis of their direction and the extent of the intonation contour, five types of final inflections have been distinguished that maintain distinctive characteristics

Thus, the grapheme‐phoneme correspondence is predictable in reading. That is, an expert reader is capable of unequivocally determining the correct pronunciation of a written word or a pseudoword based on correspondence rules. However, this situation does not occur in writing, where inconsistent phoneme‐grapheme correspondences are added, producing doubts because a single phoneme can correspond to several graphemes, which affects the transpar-

Intercultural studies suggest that the level of orthographic transparency determines the reading performance of children with dyslexia [7–9]. Thus, the characteristics of the Spanish lan-

In Spain, the term learning disabilities has been used for many years in a general sense. It has been considered synonymous with the broader concept of special educational needs [10–12]. According to this conceptualization, learning disabilities were not considered a specific diagnostic condition; instead, the term referred to problems or difficulties a student could have with learning, regardless of their cause. However, the publication of the *Ley Orgánica de Educación* (Organic Education Law) [13] and the *Ley Orgánica para la Mejora de la Calidad Educativa* (Organic Law for Improving the Quality of Education) [14] marked a major change because the term *special educational needs* was replaced by the expression *specific needs for educational support* due

guage influence, in part, the prevalence and manifestations of dyslexia in Spanish.

surrounding the assertion, interrogation, exclamation, and appeal modes [6].

(Z, C), /s/(S, X).

46 Learning Disabilities - An International Perspective

ency of the code.

**2. Learning disabilities in Spain**

Developmental dyslexia is a specific reading disorder of neurological origin that persists throughout life despite having adequate intelligence, education, and socioeconomic background to learn to read [16]. Individuals with dyslexia have difficulties with accurate or fluent word recognition [17, 18]. Thus, the most consistent and enduring core of any definition of dyslexia is probably its conception as an *unexpected* difficulty in reading [12, 17].

The prevalence of dyslexia has been estimated at 5–15% of school‐aged children, depending on the language and culture [16]. Researchers have argued that the difference in the prevalence of dyslexia in different languages might primarily be due to inherent differences in the regularity of the grapheme‐phoneme correspondence [8, 19]. As far as reading is concerned, Spanish is a clear example of a transparent orthographic system. The prevalence of dyslexia is much lower in transparent orthographies than in opaque orthographies [8]. Specifically in Spain, the estimated prevalence of developmental dyslexia ranges from 3.2 to 5.9% in elementary school students [20] and from 3.5 to 5.6% in secondary school students [21], or 11.8% if spelling difficulties are included with dyslexia [22].

In addition, dyslexia is typically more prevalent in males than in females in both referred and research‐identified samples, and the ratio of males to females is greater in more severely affected samples [16]. Nevertheless, a recent study [23] provided little (1.4:1 male to female ratio) or no evidence for gender‐related differences in the prevalence of reading disabilities in a transparent orthography.
