Deficiencies in broader language skills as predictors of reading skills in atypical development

Abstract

The current work examines the relationship between broader language skills and the development of early reading skills (decoding and comprehension) among a sample of children with developmental delay. A sample of 10 children between the ages of 5 and 7 years all clinically diagnosed with developmental delay were carefully matched with a chronological age and IQ match control group. All children were presented with a series of different measures to examine profiles of (i) epi- and meta-phonological measures of phonological awareness, (ii) semantic skills and (iii) listening comprehension. Profiles of performance for those with developmental delay were then compared against scores for the two controls groups. The findings reveal that in addition to phonological measures, those with developmental delay show profound deficit in their broader language skills, which could account for a significant amount of the variance in both decoding ability and reading comprehension skill. Overall, the role of broader language skills in relation to children’s development in reading is discussed