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Is Preschool Language Impairment a Risk Factor for Dyslexia in Adolescence?
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Language DevelopmentAtypical Language DevelopmentEducationEarly Childhood LanguageLiteracy DevelopmentEarly Childhood EducationReading DisabilitiesChild LiteracyWriting DifficultiesChild LanguageLanguage AcquisitionCognitive DevelopmentReading DifficultiesLanguage DisordersReadingSchool-age LanguagePreschool Language ImpairmentRisk FactorLanguage StudiesDevelopmental DisorderSpecific Learning DisorderEarly Literacy ProcessesReading FailureReading SkillsSchool LeaversChild DevelopmentLanguage DisorderElementary Literacy ProcessesEarly Childhood LiteracyPediatricsDevelopmental Language DisorderSpecial EducationLiteracy Skills
The study argues that early phonological difficulties and later language impairments increase the risk of literacy failure into adulthood. The authors assessed literacy skills at age 15 in 56 former preschoolers with specific language impairment from the Bishop and Edmundson cohort. At 15 years, children with preschool SLI performed worse on reading, spelling, and comprehension—especially those with lower PIQ—and the prevalence of reading retardation rose from ages 8½ to 15, though over a third achieved normal reading, underscoring limitations of discrepancy definitions of dyslexia.
The literacy skills of 56 school leavers from the Bishop and Edmundson (1987) cohort of preschoolers with specific language impairment (SLI) were assessed at 15 years. The SLI group performed worse on tests of reading, spelling, and reading comprehension than age‐matched controls and the literacy outcomes were particularly poor for those with Performance IQ less than 100. The rate of specific reading retardation in the SLI group had increased between the ages of 8½ and 15 years and there had been a substantial drop in reading accuracy, relative to age. However, over 35% had reading skills within the normal range and those who had had isolated impairments of expressive phonology had a particularly good outcome. Our findings highlight the limitations of discrepancy definitions of dyslexia that do not take account of the changing demands of reading over time. We argue that children's phonological difficulties place them at risk of literacy failure at the outset of reading and that later, impairments of other language skills compromise development to adult levels of fluency.