Children with Specific Language Impairment (SLI) are deemed to be a group at risk in learning written language. Their linguistic deficit may impact on their reading comprehension performance, although this not the case for all children with SLI. The aim of this study is to observe the possible differences in linguistic and decoding skills in children with SLI with and without reading comprehension problems. The sample consisted of 60 first grade children with SLI, of which 42 are poor comprehenders and 18 are good comprehenders. Reading skills (decoding and reading comprehension) and linguistic skills (phonological awareness, vocabulary as well as expressive and comprehensive narrative speech) were assessed. Results show that there are no statistically significant differences in linguistic skills between good comprehenders and poor comprehender. Significant differences were found for decoding, with children with reading comprehension problems performing significantly lower than good comprehenders. In the group of children with reading comprehension problems, phonological awareness and decoding highly correlate with reading comprehension, while the very same variables have no correlation among children with good reading comprehension.
Keywords:
Specific language impairment, linguistic skills, decoding, reading comprehension
Reyes, M. A., & De Barbieri, Z. (2018). Linguistic skills and decoding among children with Specific Language Impairment with and without reading comprehension difficulties. Revista Chilena De Fonoaudiología, 17, 1–11. https://doi.org/10.5354/0719-4692.2018.51641
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