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Relationships between reading, phonological skills and language development in individuals with Down syndrome: A five year follow-up study

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Abstract

This article is based on language, memory andreading information gathered for a five yearfollow-up study of 30 children and adolescentswith Down syndrome, aged from 10 to 24 years atthe end of the study. At Time 1, 10individuals were classified as readers but byTime 2 this number had risen to 16. Readers significantly outperformed non-readerson tests of nonverbal ability, languagecomprehension and production, phonologicalmemory and phonological awarenesss. However,some of these differences could be accountedfor by readers' significantly lower hearingthresholds. Phonological memory and earlyletter knowledge at Time 1 were significantpredictors of reading scores for Time 2readers, after controlling for age, nonverbalability and corresponding Time 1 readingscores. There was no evidence that learning toread had a significant impact on later languagecomprehension, but early reading skills may besignificant predictors of MLU five years later,after controlling for age, nonverbal abilityand hearing.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Experimental Psychology, University of Oxford, South Parks Road, Oxford, OX1 3DU, UK

    Glynis Laws

  2. University of Bristol, UK

    Deborah Gunn

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  1. Glynis Laws
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  2. Deborah Gunn
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Correspondence to Glynis Laws.

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Laws, G., Gunn, D. Relationships between reading, phonological skills and language development in individuals with Down syndrome: A five year follow-up study. Reading and Writing 15, 527–548 (2002). https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1016364126817

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