The purpose of this study was to test the hypothesis that word reading accuracy, not oral language, is associated with spelling performance in school-age children. We compared fourth grade spelling accuracy in children with specific language impairment (SLI), dyslexia or both (SLI/dyslexia) to their typically developing grade-matched peers.…

Speech timing of nine phonologically disordered and nine normally developing preschoolers was investigated for the voicing contrasts of word-initial and word-final stop consonants. Results were interpreted to mean that some phonologically disordered children may have less mature speech timing control. (Author/CL)

Speech production/articulation was examined in 20 reading disordered children and 20 control subjects (mean age for all subjects of 14 years). The reading disordered subjects made significantly more speech production errors than normal subjects on all tasks, suggesting underlying deficits in phonological processing. (Author/DB)

The ability of 12 language-impaired, 12 reading-impaired, and 12 normal 6- to 8-year-olds to process phonological lexical, and morphological information was compared. Learning-impaired subjects performed significantly poorer than reading-impaired children only on word and sentence repetition tasks, confirming that poor readers have difficulty…

The paper discusses problems with traditional definitions of dyslexia and reviews research that suggests a more comprehensive definition, viewing dyslexia as a developmental language disorder that involves a deficit in phonological processing. The disorder is seen as manifesting itself in various phonological difficulties as well as in a specific…

Explores whether or not beginning readers of Chinese (first and third graders) activate phonological codes while reading Chinese characters. Finds that subjects used phonological codes while reading. (RS)

This study, involving 54 first-grade children, found that correlations between decoding and phonological awareness were generally much higher than correlations obtained for measures of decoding and verbal and nonverbal intelligence. Several phonological awareness tasks identified good and poor decoders, with approximately 80-90% accuracy. (DB)

Seventeen dyslexic college students rapidly repeated a series of phonologically complex and simple phrases. Compared to controls, subjects repeated the phrases at a significantly slower rate and, in the complex condition, made significantly more errors. Analysis of errors suggested that dyslexics may have difficulties in the planning stage of…

A study gathered data on the effectiveness of four phonological awareness measures in predicting reading outcome in first grade. The "Test of Non-Verbal Intelligence" (TONI) and the "Peabody Picture Vocabulary Test" (PPVT) were used to assess the cognitive abilities of 54 first-graders from a middle class elementary school in a…

The article reviews research on the language basis of reading disabilities and draws implications for early identification. The article considers language problems in reading-disabled children, follow-up studies of language-impaired children, and phonological processing and reading disabilities. Implications include the value of preschool…

Purpose: To examine concurrently and retrospectively the language abilities of children with specific reading comprehension deficits ("poor comprehenders") and compare them to typical readers and children with specific decoding deficits ("poor decoders"). Method: In Study 1, the authors identified 57 poor comprehenders, 27 poor decoders, and 98…

Current research supporting the language basis of dyslexia is reviewed, suggesting that phonological processing deficits are at the core of dyslexia and less pronounced reading problems. The role of higher-level language functioning and phonological processing is considered in an expanded view of the language basis of reading disabilities.…

Fifty-six children with speech-language impairments were identified in kindergarten and followed in first and second grades. Subjects' performance on standardized measures of language ability in kindergarten was closely related to reading outcome, especially reading comprehension. Measures of phonological awareness and rapid automatized naming…

The principles and techniques useful in designing a phonological awareness training program for children at risk for reading disabilities are discussed. The paper asserts that speech-language pathologists have the training, clinical expertise, and opportunity to play an integral role in such programs. (Author/JDD)

This longitudinal study examined predictors of second-grade reading outcomes in kindergarten children (N=604). Findings indicated that five kindergarten variables uniquely predicted reading outcomes in second grade: (1) letter identification, (2) sentence imitation, (3) phonological awareness, (4) rapid naming, and (5) mother's education.…