Reading and Math Achievement in Children With Dyslexia, Developmental Language Disorder, or Typical Development: Achievement Gaps Persist From Second Through Fourth Grades.

We examined how children ( = 448) with separate or co-occurring developmental language disorder (DLD) and dyslexia performed on school-based measures of academic functioning between second and fourth grades. Children were recruited from 1 school district in the U.S.

Examining the Associations Between Parent Concerns and School-Age Children's Language and Reading Abilities: A Comparison of Samples Recruited for In-School Versus Online Participation.

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to examine the relationship between parent concerns about children's oral language, reading, and related skills and their children's performance on standardized assessments of language and reading, with a particular focus on whether those relationships differed between children recruited for in-school versus online participation.

Method: This study used data from a larger, longitudinal project focused on children with and without developmental language disorder (DLD) and/or dyslexia. The "in-school" sample ( = 133) completed assessments in-person before school closures, and the "online" sample ( = 84) recruited via advertisements completed assessments online.

Spoken Word Learning in Children With Developmental Language Disorder or Dyslexia.

Purpose Word learning difficulties have been documented in multiple studies involving children with dyslexia and developmental language disorder (DLD; see also specific language impairment). However, no previous studies have directly contrasted word learning in these two frequently co-occurring disorders. We examined word learning in second-grade students with DLD-only and dyslexia-only as compared to each other, peers with both disorders (DLD + dyslexia), and peers with typical development.

Promoting Reading Achievement in Children With Developmental Language Disorders: What Can We Learn From Research on Specific Language Impairment and Dyslexia?

Purpose Specific language impairment (SLI; see also developmental language disorder) and dyslexia are separate, yet frequently co-occurring disorders that confer risks to reading comprehension and academic achievement. Until recently, most studies of one disorder had little consideration of the other, and each disorder was addressed by different practitioners. However, understanding how the two disorders relate to each other is important for advancing theories about each disorder and improving reading comprehension and academic achievement.

If we don't look, we won't see: Measuring language development to inform literacy instruction.

Oral language abilities enable children to learn to read, and they predict future academic achievement and life outcomes. However, children with language impairment frequently go unidentified because schools do not systematically measure oral language development. Given that identification paves the way for treatment, schools should increase attention to oral language development, particularly within response to intervention (RTI) frameworks, which aim to prevent learning disabilities by identifying and intervening at early stages.

Production of Morphosyntax Within and Across Different Dialects of American English.

Purpose This study examined the production of morphosyntactic markers by school-age children with and without developmental language disorder. Comparisons were made between students who speak mainstream American English (MAE) dialects and nonmainstream American English (NMAE) dialects. Method First- and second-grade students ( = 82) completed assessments of dialect use and language ability, which are designed for students who speak NMAE dialects.

Accelerating Adolescent Vocabulary Growth: Development of an Individualized, Web-Based, Vocabulary Instruction Program.

Purpose Improving vocabulary knowledge is important for many adolescents, but there are few evidence-based vocabulary instruction programs available for high school students. The purpose of this article is to describe the iterative development of the DictionarySquared research platform, a web-based vocabulary program that provides individualized vocabulary instruction, and to report the results of 2 pilot studies examining the feasibility of implementation and potential effectiveness with high school students. Method We describe our theory of change and 5 phases of iterative development.

Prologue to the Forum: Vocabulary Across the School Grades.

Purpose This prologue introduces the Forum: Vocabulary Across the School Grades. The goals of the forum are to provide an overview of the importance of vocabulary to literacy and academic achievement, to review evidence regarding best practices for vocabulary instruction, and to highlight recent research related to word learning with students across different grade levels. Method The prologue provides a foundational overview of vocabulary's role in literacy and introduces the topics of the other ten articles in the forum.

Identifying Children at Risk for Developmental Language Disorder Using a Brief, Whole-Classroom Screen.

Purpose The aim of this study was to determine whether parents of children with developmental language disorder (DLD) were aware of their children's language difficulties and whether a brief, classroom-based language screen can reliably identify children at risk for DLD, including those with both good and poor word reading skills. Method First- and second-grade students ( N = 97) completed a language screen and assessments of nonverbal intelligence, word reading, and language designed for linguistically diverse students. Their parents completed a questionnaire.

Understanding Dyslexia in the Context of Developmental Language Disorders.

Purpose: The purpose of this tutorial is to discuss the language basis of dyslexia in the context of developmental language disorders (DLDs). Whereas most studies have focused on the phonological skills of children with dyslexia, we bring attention to broader language skills.

Method: We conducted a focused literature review on the language basis of dyslexia from historical and theoretical perspectives with a special emphasis on the relation between dyslexia and DLD and on the development of broader language skills (e.

Reading in Children With Fragile X Syndrome: Phonological Awareness and Feasibility of Intervention.

Individuals with fragile X syndrome (FXS) present with significant deficits in reading skills, but scant research exists to understand the characteristics of the reading delays or best practices for reading instruction with this population. Study 1 examined the relationship between phonological awareness and reading skills in individuals with FXS. Study 2 evaluated the feasibility of a web-based reading intervention, which incorporated phonological awareness and phonics instruction but was originally developed for mainstream students, for children with FXS.

Understanding Word Reading Difficulties in Children With SLI.

Children with specific language impairment (SLI) often show considerable reading difficulties. Research has revealed two primary reading profiles among children with SLI: (a) one of poor word reading and decoding skills and associated reading comprehension difficulties, and (b) one involving relatively strong word reading skills but poor comprehension. This article reviews studies characterizing these two subtypes of SLI, discusses their current clinical implications, and suggests important directions for future study.

Identifying Children at Risk for Language Impairment or Dyslexia With Group-Administered Measures.

Purpose: The study aims to determine whether brief, group-administered screening measures can reliably identify second-grade children at risk for language impairment (LI) or dyslexia and to examine the degree to which parents of affected children were aware of their children's difficulties.

Method: Participants (N = 381) completed screening tasks and assessments of word reading, oral language, and nonverbal intelligence. Their parents completed questionnaires that inquired about reading and language development.

Language Assessment With Children Who Speak Nonmainstream Dialects: Examining the Effects of Scoring Modifications in Norm-Referenced Assessment.

Purpose: We compared outcomes from 2 measures of language ability in children who displayed a range of dialect variation: 1 using features that do not contrast between mainstream American English (MAE) and nonmainstream dialects (NMAE), and 1 using contrastive features. We investigated how modified scoring procedures affected the diagnostic accuracy of the measure with contrastive features.

Method: Second-grade students (N = 299; 167 White, 106 African American, 26 other) completed measures of language variation and ability (the Diagnostic Evaluation of Language Variation-Screening Test and the Clinical Evaluation of Language Fundamentals-Fourth Edition [CELF-4]).

Nonword Repetition and Vocabulary Knowledge as Predictors of Children's Phonological and Semantic Word Learning.

Purpose: This study examined the unique and shared variance that nonword repetition and vocabulary knowledge contribute to children's ability to learn new words. Multiple measures of word learning were used to assess recall and recognition of phonological and semantic information.

Method: Fifty children, with a mean age of 8 years (range 5-12 years), completed experimental assessments of word learning and norm-referenced assessments of receptive and expressive vocabulary knowledge and nonword repetition skills.

Morphosyntax in Poor Comprehenders.

Children described as (PCs) have reading comprehension difficulties in spite of adequate word reading abilities. PCs are known to display weakness with semantics and higher-level aspects of oral language, but less is known about their grammatical skills, especially with regard to morphosyntax. The purpose of this study was to examine morphosyntax in fourth grade PCs and typically developing readers (TDs), using three experimental tasks involving finiteness marking.

Phonological awareness and reading in boys with fragile X syndrome.

Background: Reading delays are well documented in children with fragile X syndrome (FXS), but few studies have examined linguistic precursors of reading in this population. This study examined the longitudinal development of phonological awareness and its relationship with basic reading in boys with FXS. Individual differences in genetic, social-behavioral and environmental factors were also investigated as predictors of phonological awareness.

Structured narrative retell instruction for young children from low socioeconomic backgrounds: a preliminary study of feasibility.

Successful acquisition of literacy depends on adequate development of decoding skills as well as broader, meaning-related knowledge and skills for text comprehension. Children from low socioeconomic status (SES) backgrounds are often challenged in both domains, relative to peers who are not economically disadvantaged. The efficacy of code-focused instructional programs for at-risk preliterate children is well supported, but less evidence is available regarding interventions to improve broader language and comprehension skills.

On the importance of listening comprehension.

The simple view of reading highlights the importance of two primary components which account for individual differences in reading comprehension across development: word recognition (i.e., decoding) and listening comprehension.

Kindergarten predictors of second versus eighth grade reading comprehension impairments.

Multiple studies have shown that kindergarten measures of phonological awareness and alphabet knowledge are good predictors of reading achievement in the primary grades. However, less attention has been given to the early predictors of later reading achievement. This study used a modified best-subsets variable-selection technique to examine kindergarten predictors of early versus later reading comprehension impairments.

The effect of semantic set size on word learning by preschool children.

Purpose: The purpose was to determine whether semantic set size, a measure of the number of semantic neighbors, influenced word learning, and whether the influence of semantic set size was broad, showing effects on multiple measures both during and after learning.

Method: Thirty-six preschool children were exposed to 10 nonobjects, varying in semantic set size, paired with 10 nonwords, controlling phonotactic probability and neighborhood density. Nonobject-nonword pairs were presented in a game format.

Adult and child semantic neighbors of the Kroll and Potter (1984) nonobjects.

Purpose: The purpose was to determine the number of semantic neighbors, namely, semantic set size, for 88 nonobjects (J. F. Kroll & M.

Language deficits in poor comprehenders: a case for the simple view of reading.

Purpose: To examine concurrently and retrospectively the language abilities of children with specific reading comprehension deficits ("poor comprehenders") and compare them to typical readers and children with specific decoding deficits ("poor decoders").

Method: In Study 1, the authors identified 57 poor comprehenders, 27 poor decoders, and 98 typical readers on the basis of 8th-grade reading achievement. These subgroups' performances on 8th-grade measures of language comprehension and phonological processing were investigated.

Are specific language impairment and dyslexia distinct disorders?

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to determine whether specific language impairment (SLI) and dyslexia are distinct developmental disorders.

Method: Study 1 investigated the overlap between SLI identified in kindergarten and dyslexia identified in 2nd, 4th, or 8th grades in a representative sample of 527 children. Study 2 examined phonological processing in a subsample of participants, including 21 children with dyslexia only, 43 children with SLI only, 18 children with SLI and dyslexia, and 165 children with typical language/reading development.