The role of phonological awareness and letter-sound knowledge in the reading development of children with intellectual disabilities.
Strong early phonological and letter-sound skills predict later reading success in kids with mild-moderate ID.
01Research in Context
What this study did
The team followed the kids with mild or moderate intellectual disability.
All were 6-8 years old at the start.
They tested phonological awareness and letter-sound skills once, then checked reading one and two years later.
No teaching was given; they just watched what happened.
What they found
Kids who scored high on phonological games and knew most letter sounds at were the best readers at and 8-10.
The link stayed strong even after two years.
Early skills forecasted both word reading and story understanding later on.
How this fits with other research
Chou et al. (2010) showed the same link in a single time-point study.
Scalzo et al. (2015) now proves the link lasts for years, so it acts like a sequel that extends the story.
Lecavalier et al. (2006) looked sadder: older bilingual kids with ID scored far below peers.
The difference is age and language.
Younger, English-only kids in Scalzo et al. (2015) made steady gains, while older bilingual kids in Lecavalier et al. (2006) faced a double load.
Hilton et al. (2010) adds that phonological short-term memory also helps reading, so we now have two clear cognitive targets.
Why it matters
If you serve early-elementary kids with mild-moderate ID, screen phonological awareness and letter-sound knowledge right away.
Use simple tests like rhyming or letter naming.
Kids who lag get extra practice in these areas first, because the data say it will pay off in reading gains one and two years down the road.
Want CEUs on This Topic?
The ABA Clubhouse has 60+ free CEUs — live every Wednesday. Ethics, supervision & clinical topics.
Join Free →Add a -item letter-sound probe to your next session and note which letters the child misses.
02At a glance
03Original abstract
Our study investigated if phonological awareness and letter-sound knowledge were predictors of reading progress in children with intellectual disabilities (ID) with unspecified etiology. An academic achievement test was administered to 129 children with mild or moderate ID when they were 6-8 years old, as well as one and two school years later. Findings indicated that phonological awareness and letter-sound knowledge at 6-8 years of age predicted progress in word and non-word reading after one school year and two school years after controlling for IQ, age, expressive vocabulary, spoken language, and type of placement. Phonological awareness and letter-sound knowledge at 6-8 years of age also predicted progress in reading comprehension after one school year and two school years. These findings suggest that training phonological awareness skills combined with explicit phonics instruction is important to foster reading progress in children with mild and moderate ID with unspecified etiology.
Research in developmental disabilities, 2015 · doi:10.1016/j.ridd.2015.04.001