title: Development of reading and phonological skills of children at family risk for dyslexia: a longitudinal analysis from kindergarten to sixth grade.
abstract: The main focus of this article is to develop a better understanding of the developmental trajectories of literacy and phonological skills within Dutch-speaking children. Children at high and low risk for dyslexia were followed and compared at four different moments: kindergarten and first, third and sixth grades. Three groups were then compared: (1) dyslexic readers; (2) normal readers at high risk for dyslexia; and (3) normal readers at low risk for dyslexia. Children diagnosed with dyslexia scored lower than high-risk normal readers on phonological awareness (PA), rapid automatized naming (RAN), verbal short-term memory and literacy skills. Normal readers at high risk scored between both groups, confirming that dyslexia is to be considered as a continuum rather than an all-or-none condition. Growth analyses showed that the three groups evolved similarly on all measures except for phoneme deletion and literacy measures. Finally, solely PA and RAN explained a significant amount of variance in the evolution of reading skills.
authors.affiliation: Leopold Vanderkelenstraat 32, B3765, BE-3000, Leuven, Belgium.
authors.forename: Sophie
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Dandache
authors.forename: Jan
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Wouters
authors.forename: Pol
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Ghesquière
mesh_terms: D001184:Articulation Disorders / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000453:epidemiology; D001364:Awareness; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D004410:Dyslexia / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000453:epidemiology; D005192:Family Health; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007805:Language Development Disorders / Q000453:epidemiology; D007807:Language Tests / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D008037:Linguistics; D008137:Longitudinal Studies; D008297:Male; D009426:Netherlands; D010700:Phonetics; D011932:Reading
keywords: developmental disorders; dyslexia; learning disability; phonological awareness