Processing speed deficits, developmental dyslexia, and handwriting in Chinese: A narrative review

In this expanded review, we examine the theoretical frameworks tying together Chinese dyslexia, processing speed, and handwriting outcomes and then anchor these discussions in a broad range of empirical evidence spanning over two decades. We first describe how Chinese literacy’s unique characteristics, its monosyllabic script, high visual complexity, and emphasis on handwriting practice, create extensive speed-based demands. Next, we explore the role of rapid automatized naming (RAN) and magnocellular-based temporal-processing models, illuminating how deficits in these areas could impede literacy acquisition. We then connect these constructs to handwriting, focusing on how copying, dictation, and free-writing tasks expose or exacerbate speed deficits. Throughout, we incorporate recent neuroimaging findings and debate key theoretical perspectives, including the double-deficit hypothesis and critiques of the magnocellular framework. Subsequently, we highlight evidence-based interventions and emergent policy approaches in Chinese-speaking regions. We conclude by identifying critical directions for future research, including longitudinal designs that track dyslexic children’s writing fluency over time, cross-linguistic investigations clarifying how speed interacts with morphological awareness, and deeper neurobiological inquiries into the dorsal-ventral pathways implicated in handwriting. By foregrounding processing-speed deficits in Chinese dyslexia, this review provides a comprehensive narrative synthesis to integrate processing-speed and handwriting evidence in Chinese dyslexia, answering the question and explaining how speed deficits translate into handwriting difficulties.