Purpose: The aim of this study was to gain more insight into the linguistic characterization of dyslexia by investigating vocabulary acquisition. In a previous study, vocabulary at 17 months of age appeared to be related to familial risk (FR) of dyslexia. The aim of this study was to investigate how the differences in lexical composition further…

How to help babies and young children right from birth to become competent in talking as well as emergent literacy is illustrated by research findings as well as with specific clinical stories. Both kinds of knowledge can serve to galvanize parents and teachers to increase awareness of infant and preschool language development and the crucial role…

This study investigated the potential interrelationship between parental (maternal) and expert assessments of the expressive and receptive language skills of 12- to 18-month-old children. The language activities of 27 children were monitored by their mothers (MCDI scale: Lyytinen, 2000. "Varhaisen kommunikaation ja kielen kehityksen…

Discriminative language markers and predictive links between early language and literacy skills were investigated retrospectively in the Jyvaskyla Longitudinal Study of Dyslexia in which children at familial risk for dyslexia have been followed from birth. Three groups were formed on the basis of 198 children's reading and spelling status. One…

The syntactic development of preschoolers (n=22) who later became disabled readers was compared to that of similar children who became normal readers. Expressive and receptive syntactic abilities were examined from age 30 to 60 months. The dyslexic group was poorer on all measures until age five, when both groups exhibited similar syntactic…

A study analyzed the language development of 200 children at 14, 24, 30, and 42 months and assessed their symbolic play at 14 months. Children from families with dyslexia (n=103) had lower maximum sentence length at 2 years and object naming and inflectional morphology skills at 3.5 years. (Contains references.) (Author/CR)

The relationship between late-talkers' language development and reading and spelling outcomes was examined in children with and without familial risk for dyslexia. The late-talking subgroups were defined using parent- and test-based assessments of receptive and expressive vocabulary and grammar at 2 and 2.5 years as intake criteria. The language…

The paper describes the development of the "Test of Thought and Language" (Total) which is intended to allow first grade teachers to determine if students are ready for phonics instruction or if, for some students, the curriculum should first develop language concepts, structures and thinking processes. Background information for the…