title: Reading and spelling disabilities in children with and without a history of early language delay: a neuropsychological and linguistic study.
abstract: Language delay is a frequent antecedent of literacy problems, and both may be linked to phonological impairment. Studies on developmental dyslexia have led to contradictory results due to the heterogeneity of the pathological samples. The present study investigated whether Italian children with dyslexia showed selective phonological processing deficits or more widespread linguistic impairment and whether these deficits were associated with previous language delay. We chose 46 children with specific reading deficits and divided them into two groups based on whether they had language delay (LD) or not (NoLD). LD and NoLD children showed similar, severe deficits in reading and spelling decoding, but only LD children showed a moderate impairment in reading comprehension. LD children were more impaired in phonological working memory and phonological fluency, as well as in semantic fluency, grammatical comprehension, and verbal IQ. These findings indicate the presence of a moderate but widespread linguistic deficit (not limited to phonological processing) in a subset of dyslexic children with previous language delay that does not generalize to all children with reading difficulties.
authors.affiliation: Scientific Institute "Stella Maris,", Pisa, Italy. achilosi@inpe.unipi.it
authors.forename: Anna Maria
authors.initials: AM
authors.lastname: Chilosi
authors.forename: Daniela
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Brizzolara
authors.forename: Laura
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Lami
authors.forename: Claudia
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Pizzoli
authors.forename: Filippo
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Gasperini
authors.forename: Chiara
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Pecini
authors.forename: Paola
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Cipriani
authors.forename: Pierluigi
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Zoccolotti
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D002648:Child; D004410:Dyslexia / Q000523:psychology*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007360:Intelligence; D007802:Language; D007805:Language Development Disorders / Q000523:psychology*; D007807:Language Tests; D008037:Linguistics; D008297:Male; D008570:Memory, Short-Term; D009483:Neuropsychological Tests; D011932:Reading; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires