Abstract
ABSTRACTIt is now widely accepted that phonological language skills are a critical foundation for learning to read (decode). This longitudinal study investigated the predictive relationship between a range of key phonological language skills and early reading development in a sample of 191 children in their first year at school. The study also explored the theory that a failure to establish automatic associations between letters and speech sounds is a proximal causal risk factor for difficulties in learning to read. Our findings show that automatic letter-sound associations are established early, but do not predict variations in reading development. In contrast, phoneme awareness, letter-sound knowledge and alphanumeric RAN were all strong independent predictors of reading development. In addition, both phoneme awareness and RAN displayed a reciprocal relationship with reading, such that the growth of reading predicted improvements in these skills.
Highlights
Fluent reading skills are a critical foundation for educational success, but many children experience problems in learning to read
Developmental dyslexia, a disorder characterized by impaired word reading and spelling, is estimated to affect between 3 to 8% of the population (Peterson & Pennington, 2015), but this diagnosis represents the lower end of a continuous distribution of reading and spelling skills (Fletcher, 2009)
The absence of an early MMN in those with dyslexia has been interpreted as reflecting a deficit in letter-sound integration that is causally related to reading difficulties, a subsequent attempt to replicate these findings suggests the early MMN is absent only in the most severely impaired dyslexic readers (Žarić et al, 2014)
Summary
Fluent reading skills are a critical foundation for educational success, but many children experience problems in learning to read. Developmental dyslexia, a disorder characterized by impaired word reading and spelling, is estimated to affect between 3 to 8% of the population (Peterson & Pennington, 2015), but this diagnosis represents the lower end of a continuous distribution of reading and spelling skills (Fletcher, 2009). It is, critically important to determine the cognitive skills that predict variations in reading development, to allow us to identify and treat children at risk of reading difficulties. Following on from this, a subset of phonological language skills – phoneme awareness, letter-sound knowledge and rapid automatized naming, have been identified as strong and independent predictors of variations in reading skill (Hulme & Snowling, 2014)
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