Preschool impairments in auditory processing and speech perception uniquely predict future reading problems.

Boets et al. (2011) followed a group of preschoolers from kindergarten to third grade. They gave each child quick tests of auditory processing and speech perception. The team wanted to see if these early scores could forecast who would later struggle with reading.

Kids who had trouble detecting tiny changes in sound pitch and understanding speech in noise in kindergarten were the same ones who had reading problems in third grade. These auditory scores predicted reading trouble even better than the usual phonological tests.

Costa et al. (2013) and Gonzalez-Barrero et al. (2018) extend this picture. They show that family history of reading problems and early vocabulary delays also flag later reading risk. Together the papers build a checklist: watch auditory skills, family stories, and language milestones.

Chen et al. (2019) seems to disagree at first. They found that preschoolers with autism actually had faster brain responses to sound, not slower. The difference is population: Bart studied typical kids, while Jierong studied kids with ASD. In autism, faster brain timing may reflect a different auditory path, not a protective factor.

Macchi et al. (2014) and Carter et al. (2013) add that once children are school-aged, phonological skills still matter, especially for those with speech-language impairment or high-functioning autism. Auditory processing opens the door, but phonology keeps the child walking through it.

You can add two minutes of auditory screening to your preschool language assessment. Check if the child can hear tiny pitch wiggles and repeat words over background noise. If scores are low, start early literacy monitoring and maybe add auditory training games. The sooner you spot risk, the sooner you can intervene before reading failure sets in.