Word and pseudoword reading in children with specific speech and language impairment.
Most kids with specific language impairment read years behind because of weak phonics skills, so tailor reading lessons to each child's profile.
01Research in Context
What this study did
Macchi et al. (2014) looked at how well kids with specific language impairment read words and fake words. They tested a small group of school-age children with this diagnosis. The team gave reading tasks that check two brain routes: sounding out letters and recognizing whole words.
What they found
Nine in ten kids had a reading disorder. On average they read three and a half years below their age. Most struggled with the sounding-out route. The kids fell into four clear reading profiles, not just one.
How this fits with other research
Macdonald et al. (2021) seems to disagree. Their preschoolers with ASD and hyperlexia could read words early even with weak phonics skills. The difference is the diagnosis: hyperlexic ASD kids use a whole-word shortcut that SLI kids lack.
Gonzalez-Barrero et al. (2018) extend the story. They tracked late-talking toddlers and found that only the ones with both receptive and expressive delays kept reading problems into high school. This warns us to keep watching mixed language delays long after preschool.
Leaf et al. (2012) add that Down syndrome decoding links more to vocabulary size than to phonics skill. Together these papers show reading roadblocks differ by group; phonics is key for SLI, vocabulary for Down syndrome, and whole-word sight reading for hyperlexic ASD.
Why it matters
If you work with kids who have speech and language impairment, do not assume a single reading plan. Screen both the sounding-out and whole-word routes. Match your phonics lessons for the many with phonological gaps, but add sight-word work if progress stalls. Re-check reading skills each year; profiles can shift.
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02At a glance
03Original abstract
Children with specific language impairment frequently encounter difficulties in learning to read and in particular, in word recognition. The present study set out to determine the precise impact of language impairment on word reading skills. We investigated single-word reading in 27 French children with specific speech and language impairment (2 SLI). Precise quantification of reading levels in the 2 SLI group showed an average delay of 3.5 years. Approximately 90% of these children were affected by a reading disorder, whereas for the remaining 10%, reading performance was within normal limits. Word reading procedures are analyzed using the so-called 'dual route model', which proposes that reading is achieved through two processes, the phonological and the orthographic procedures. Group comparison analyses of 27 reading level-matched control children, revealed an increased lexicality effect in the 2 SLI group, indicating a specific deficit in the phonological procedure. Moreover, multiple case analyses revealed interindividual differences among the children with 2 SLI, with four reading subtypes. Approximately 60% of these children reached the standard levels expected of younger children with identical reading levels (delayed reading profile) in both procedures. Twenty percent displayed qualitatively different reading mechanisms, with a greater deficit in the phonological procedure (phonological profile). These children showed a severe impairment in language production at the phonological level. Ten percent exhibited a greater orthographic deficit (surface profile) and 10% had normal reading skills (normal profile). Further research is required to improve our understanding of the relationships between 2 SLI or specific language impairment and reading acquisition. The present results suggest that in clinical practice, both reading procedures should be exercised, with emphasis on the phonological procedure for children with more severe deficits in phonological production.
Research in developmental disabilities, 2014 · doi:10.1016/j.ridd.2014.07.058