title: An exploratory study of the development of early syllable structure in reading-impaired children.
abstract: Babbling between the ages of 8 and 19 months was examined in 19 children, 13 of whom were at high risk for reading disorder (RD) and 6 normally reading children at low familial risk for RD. Development of syllable complexity was examined at five periods across this 11-month window. Results indicated that children who later evidenced RD produced a lower proportion of canonical utterances and less complex syllable structures than children without RD. As syllable complexity is an early indicator of phonological sophistication, differences at this level may offer a window into how the phonological system of children with RD is structured. Future directions for this line of research are discussed.
authors.affiliation: Department of Communication Sciences and Disorders, University of Maine, Orono, ME 04469, USA. susan.lambrecht.smith@umit.maine.edu
authors.forename: Susan
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Lambrecht Smith
authors.forename: Jenny A
authors.initials: JA
authors.lastname: Roberts
authors.forename: John L
authors.initials: JL
authors.lastname: Locke
authors.forename: Rebekah
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Tozer
mesh_terms: D001184:Articulation Disorders / Q000523:psychology; D002657:Child Development; D002663:Child Language; D003071:Cognition; D004410:Dyslexia / Q000523:psychology*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D008137:Longitudinal Studies; D008297:Male; D011932:Reading; D013060:Speech