Language-Based Difficulties in School-Age Children with Reading Disabilities

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kaitlyn Price ◽  
Karen Wigg ◽  
Virginia Misener ◽  
Antoine Clarke ◽  
Natalie Yeung ◽  
...  

Background: Reading disabilities (RD) are the most common learning disabilities, affecting 3-7% of school-aged children in North America. RD is associated with increased risk for comorbid language-based disorders including early language delay (ELD), speech sound disorders, and language impairments. Despite decades of research on the relationship between RD and these disorders, questions remain as to the strength of their associations. This study is the first of this size to assess all four disorders in a sample of children with RD. Method: We examined the association these disorders in a large, well-characterized family-based sample, recruited for reading difficulties in school-aged children. Parents of 492 families (674 children) completed a questionnaire that queried ELD, and current speech and language difficulties in their children. Children were also directly assessed for multiple quantitative measures of language and reading. Children were divided into three groups: Reading Disabled (RD), Intermediate Readers (IR), and Typical Readers (TR). Results: We found that the parents of the RD and IR groups reported significantly more ELD and current speech and expressive/receptive language difficulties in their children, compared with the TR group. When examined further, we found ELD was associated with poorer performance on word reading and decoding tasks, as well as with speech and language difficulties. Conclusion: The results demonstrate multiple significant associations between reading difficulties, ELD, speech and language, especially in children with severe RD. The results add to research supporting comorbidity between these disorders and will help inform teachers and psychologists when assessing and treating children’s language-based disabilities.

2020 ◽  
Vol 63 (11) ◽  
pp. 3714-3726
Author(s):  
Sherine R. Tambyraja ◽  
Kelly Farquharson ◽  
Laura Justice

Purpose The purpose of this study was to determine the extent to which school-age children with speech sound disorder (SSD) exhibit concomitant reading difficulties and examine the extent to which phonological processing and speech production abilities are associated with increased likelihood of reading risks. Method Data were obtained from 120 kindergarten, first-grade, and second-grade children who were in receipt of school-based speech therapy services. Children were categorized as being “at risk” for reading difficulties if standardized scores on a word decoding measure were 1 SD or more from the mean. The selected predictors of reading risk included children's rapid automatized naming ability, phonological awareness (PA), and accuracy of speech sound production. Results Descriptive results indicated that just over 25% of children receiving school-based speech therapy for an SSD exhibited concomitant deficits in word decoding and that those exhibiting risk at the beginning of the school year were likely to continue to be at risk at the end of the school year. Results from a hierarchical logistic regression suggested that, after accounting for children's age, general language abilities, and socioeconomic status, both PA and speech sound production abilities were significantly associated with the likelihood of being classified as at risk. Conclusions School-age children with SSD are at increased risk for reading difficulties that are likely to persist throughout an academic year. The severity of phonological deficits, reflected by PA and speech output, may be important indicators of subsequent reading problems.


2000 ◽  
Vol 9 (4) ◽  
pp. 345-357 ◽  
Author(s):  
Xuyang Zhang ◽  
J. Bruce Tomblin

This study explored the effects of oral communication and demographic characteristics on intervention receipt. Oral communication characteristics included speech-sound production and receptive and expressive language status. Demographic characteristics included race, sex, residential strata, and neighborhood income level. With regard to speech-sound production and language, 1,929 kindergartners were divided into four speech-language subgroups: speech impaired only, language impaired only, speech and language impaired, and normal in both speech and language. In terms of expressive and receptive language modalities, the group of children was divided into four expressive-receptive subgroups: expressive impaired only, receptive impaired only, expressive and receptive impaired, and normal in both expressive and receptive language. Associations of speech versus language and expressive language versus receptive language with intervention receipt were examined in both categorical and continuous manners. Results showed that speech had a stronger effect on intervention receipt than language, but that this difference could not be explained by the effect of speech on social and academic functions compared to that of language. Expressive language had a stronger effect on intervention receipt than receptive language (when treated as continuous variables). This also could not be explained by the effect of these variables on social and academic function. These results suggest that the current referral and service delivery system depends on communication characteristics that are expressive and, thus, most readily observable. This referral and service delivery approach, however, fails to identify children that have the greatest social and academic risks. Methods of reversing this trend were discussed. Among all demographic variables examined, only sex is related to intervention receipt, that is, boys were more likely to have received intervention.


2020 ◽  
Vol 63 (9) ◽  
pp. 2995-3018
Author(s):  
Cara M. Singer ◽  
Alison Hessling ◽  
Ellen M. Kelly ◽  
Lisa Singer ◽  
Robin M. Jones

Purpose The purpose of this meta-analytic study was to identify clinical characteristics, defined as child factors that can be assessed by a speech-language pathologist as part of a routine speech-language evaluation that may differentiate children who persist in stuttering from children who eventually recover from stuttering. Clinical characteristics explored included sex, age at onset, family history of stuttering, stuttering frequency and severity, speech-language skills, and temperament. Method Studies were identified through electronic databases, journals, and reference lists of relevant reports (e.g., research articles). Eligible studies followed young children who stutter (i.e., under 6 years old) for at least 24 months, assessed a potential clinical marker at study entry, and determined talker group classification (i.e., persistent or recovered) at study completion. Sex and family history differences were estimated using risk ratios; all other differences were estimated using Hedges's g . Heterogeneity and methodological differences among studies were evaluated. Results Eleven studies (41 reports) met eligibility criteria. Persistent children were older at stuttering onset and exhibited higher frequencies of stuttering-like disfluencies, lower speech sound accuracy, and lower expressive and receptive language skills than recovered children. Males and children with a family history of stuttering were also more likely to persist. Conclusions Clinical characteristics were identified that are associated with increased risk for stuttering persistence. Future studies have the potential to translate these clinical characteristics into prognostic markers for stuttering persistence risk.


2016 ◽  
Vol 1 (1) ◽  
pp. 66-74
Author(s):  
Ann A. Tyler

It is known that linguistic domains interact as they develop in parallel alongside developing speech production processes. For children with compromised linguistic systems, interactions across domains present challenges and opportunities when considering interventions. The frequently encountered population of children with co-occurring speech sound disorder (SSD) and expressive language impairment are the focus of this article. This population is at increased risk for long-term language and literacy difficulties that impact education, social participation, and vocational outcomes. Integrated interventions are reviewed for their efficacy; in these interventions there is a scheduled focus on both speech and language, or both domains are intentionally targeted. Findings from intervention comparison studies show that a variety of different integrated interventions were equally effective in producing significant gains in speech accuracy. Interventions also produced the greatest effects in areas that were explicitly targeted, although incidental effects were also achieved. Recommendations are offered for a continuum of care for preschoolers who early on display delays in both speech and language. Our small evidence base highlights the need for further development and testing of multifaceted interventions in routine practice, to achieve speech normalization, phonological awareness gains, and oral language foundations as close to school entry as possible.


2015 ◽  
Vol 24 (3) ◽  
pp. 438-459 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nancy C. Brady ◽  
Holly L. Storkel ◽  
Paige Bushnell ◽  
R. Michael Barker ◽  
Kate Saunders ◽  
...  

Purpose This study investigated a new intervention package aimed at increasing expressive word learning by school-age children with autism who have limited expressive vocabularies. This pilot investigation was intended to show proof of concept. Method Ten children between the ages of 6 and 10 years participated, with educational diagnoses of autism and limited expressive vocabularies at the outset of the study. A multimodal intervention composed of speech sound practice and augmentative and alternative communication was used to teach individualized vocabulary words that were selected on the basis of initial speech sound repertoires and principles of phonotactic probability and neighborhood density. A multiple-probe design was used to evaluate learning outcomes. Results Five children showed gains in spoken-word learning across successive word sets (high responders). Five children did not meet learning criteria (low responders). Comparisons of behaviors measured prior to intervention indicated that high responders had relatively higher skills in receptive language, prelinguistic communication, vocal/verbal imitation, adaptive behavior, and consonant productions. Conclusions The intervention package holds promise for improving spoken word productions for some children with autism who have limited expressive vocabularies. Further research is needed to better describe who may most benefit from this approach as well as investigate generalized benefits to untaught contexts and targets.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Marjolein Mues ◽  
Jennifer Zuk ◽  
Elizabeth Norton ◽  
John Gabrieli ◽  
Tiffany P. Hogan ◽  
...  

Purpose: Learning to read is a complex, multi-faceted process that relies on several speech and language-related subskills. Individual differences in word reading outcomes are indicated among children with inaccurate speech-sound productions, with inconsistent reports as to whether phonological deficits and/or weaknesses in oral language explain subsequent reading difficulties. Thus, it remains unclear how variability in speech production accuracy in early childhood may impact reading development. Therefore, the present longitudinal study seeks to clarify the relationship between speech-sound production accuracy in kindergarten and subsequent reading outcomes with a focus on additional potential mediating factors.Method: Speech accuracy, core pre-literacy skills (phonological awareness, rapid naming, letter-name knowledge) and additional potential mediators (oral language, nonverbal cognitive abilities, and socioeconomic status (SES) were characterized at the start of formal reading instruction. Word reading, decoding, reading fluency and comprehension were assessed at the end of second grade. Mediation analyses were conducted to examine factors that mediate the relationship between speech accuracy in kindergarten and subsequent reading outcomes.Results: Speech-sound production accuracy uniquely contributed to the prediction of word reading; whereas full mediation effects of core pre-literacy skills and SES were identified for decoding and fluency. For reading comprehension, full effects of pre-literacy and vocabulary skills were observed. Hierarchical regression models further revealed the relative contributions of each factor to respective reading outcomes.Conclusions: Findings carry implications for the importance of monitoring emergent literacy abilities among children with speech delays and assessing speech-sound production accuracy in multifactorial approaches to early identification of risk for reading difficulties.


2021 ◽  
pp. 002221942110062
Author(s):  
Kaitlyn M. Price ◽  
Karen G. Wigg ◽  
Virginia L. Misener ◽  
Antoine Clarke ◽  
Natalie Yeung ◽  
...  

Developmental dyslexia (DD) is a common reading disability, affecting 5% to 11% of children in North America. Children classified as having DD often have a history of early language delay (ELD) or language impairments. Nevertheless, studies have reported conflicting results as to the association between DD-ELD and the extent of current language difficulties in children with DD. To examine these relationships, we queried the parents of school-aged children with reading difficulties on their child’s early and current language ability. Siblings were also examined. Children were directly assessed using quantitative tests of language and reading skills. To compare this study with the literature, we divided the sample ( N = 674) into three groups: DD, intermediate readers (IR), and skilled readers (SR). We found a significant association between DD and ELD, with parents of children in the DD/IR groups reporting their children put words together later than the SR group. We also found a significant association between DD and language difficulties, with children with low reading skills having low expressive/receptive language abilities. Finally, we identified early language predicted current language, which predicted reading skills. These data contribute to research indicating that children with DD experience language difficulties, suggesting early recognition may help identify reading problems.


2020 ◽  
Vol 63 (12) ◽  
pp. 3961-3973
Author(s):  
Françoise Brosseau-Lapré ◽  
Jennifer Schumaker

Purpose The purpose of this study was to examine the perception of correctly and incorrectly produced words in children with and without phonological speech sound disorder (SSD) with similar vocabulary and language skills. Method Thirty-six monolingual English-speaking children aged 4 and 5 years, half with SSD and half with typical speech and language skills, participated in this study. Participants completed standardized speech and language tests as well as a mispronunciation detection task targeting omissions and substitutions of the phonemes /k, s, ɹ/ in five word positions/shapes. Results The children with SSD obtained significantly lower perceptual accuracy than the children with typical development. There was no statistically significant effect for phoneme. Omissions were more likely to be detected by both groups of participants compared with substitutions, and children with SSD had greater difficulty identifying substitutions as incorrectly produced words. Conclusions Speech perception difficulties may be a distinguishing feature of children with phonological SSD and without concomitant language difficulties. Further research is needed to investigate specific speech contexts in which perception predicts accurate production in children with SSD.


Author(s):  
Shelley S. Arnold ◽  
Jonathan M. Payne ◽  
Genevieve McArthur ◽  
Kathryn N. North ◽  
Belinda Barton

Abstract Objective: Reading difficulties are one of the most significant challenges for children with neurofibromatosis type 1 (NF1). The aims of this study were to identify and categorize the types of reading impairments experienced by children with NF1 and to establish predictors of poor reading in this population. Method: Children aged 7–12 years with NF1 (n = 60) were compared with typically developing children (n = 36). Poor word readers with NF1 were classified according to impairment type (i.e., phonological, surface, mixed), and their reading subskills were compared. A hierarchical multiple regression was conducted to identify predictors of word reading. Results: Compared to controls, children with NF1 demonstrated significantly poorer literacy abilities. Of the 49 children with NF1 classified as poor readers, 20 (41%) were classified with phonological dyslexia, 24 (49%) with mixed dyslexia, and 5 (10%) fell outside classification categories. Children with mixed dyslexia displayed the most severe reading impairments. Stronger working memory, better receptive language, and fewer inattentive behaviors predicted better word reading skills. Conclusions: The majority of children with NF1 experience deficits in key reading skills which are essential for them to become successful readers. Weaknesses in working memory, receptive language, and attention are associated with reading difficulties in children with NF1.


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