Do prereaders' auditory processing and speech perception predict later literacy?
Kindergarten kids who hear speech clearly in noise become better readers later.
01Research in Context
What this study did
Researchers tested 87 kindergarteners who could not yet read.
They measured how well each child heard speech in noise and tracked tiny sound changes called amplitude envelopes.
Two years later they checked the same kids' phonics and reading scores.
What they found
Kids who heard speech-in-noise better in kindergarten became stronger readers by second grade.
The same was true for kids who caught small shifts in sound envelopes.
Both skills together explained a big chunk of later reading success.
How this fits with other research
Bhaumik et al. (2009) used brain waves (ERPs) to show that autistic children process sounds differently.
That study looked for problems, while Vanvooren et al. (2017) looked for strengths that predict reading.
Both agree that early sound skills matter, but they focus on different groups and goals.
Chang et al. (2016) showed that preschool social-communication training helps autistic kids get ready for school.
Vanvooren et al. (2017) adds that for neurotypical kids, strong auditory skills alone forecast reading growth.
Together these papers show that both social and auditory building blocks matter, depending on the child.
Why it matters
If a five-year-old struggles to hear you over background noise, screen them now.
Quick sound-in-noise games take five minutes and flag kids who may need extra phonics help later.
You can start small group work on sound discrimination before reading problems show up.
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02At a glance
03Original abstract
Developmental dyslexia has frequently been linked to deficits in auditory processing and speech perception. However, the presence and precise nature of these deficits and the direction of their relation with reading, remains debated. In this longitudinal study, 87 five-year-olds at high and low family risk for dyslexia were followed before and during different stages of reading acquisition. The processing of different auditory cues was investigated, together with performance on speech perception and phonology and reading. Results show no effect of family risk for dyslexia on prereading auditory processing and speech perception skills. However, a relation is present between the performance on these skills in kindergarten and later phonology and literacy. In particular, links are found with the auditory processing of cues characteristic for the temporal speech amplitude envelope, rather than with other auditory cues important for speech intelligibility. Hereby, cues embedded in the speech amplitude envelope show to be related to a broad range of phonological precursors for reading. In addition, speech-in-noise perception demonstrates to operate as the most contributing factor for later phonological awareness and to be a predictor for reading mediated by the association with phonology. This study provides behavioral support for the link between prereading speech amplitude envelope processing and speech perception for future phonology and reading.
Research in developmental disabilities, 2017 · doi:10.1016/j.ridd.2017.09.005