Early predictors of dyslexia in Chinese children: familial history of dyslexia, language delay, and cognitive profiles.

Background: This work tested the rates at which Chinese children with either language delay or familial history of dyslexia at age 5 manifested dyslexia at age 7, identified which cognitive skills at age 5 best distinguished children with and without dyslexia at age 7, and examined how these early abilities predicted subsequent literacy skills.

Method: Forty-seven at-risk children (21 who were initially language delayed and 26 with familial risk) and 47 control children matched on age, IQ, and mothers' education were tested on syllable awareness, tone detection, rapid automatized naming, visual skill, morphological awareness, and word reading at age 5 and subsequently tested for dyslexia on a standard Hong Kong measure at age 7.

Results: Of those with an early language delay, 62% subsequently manifested dyslexia; for those with familial risk, the rate of dyslexia was 50%.