Early Reading Achievement in Children With Expressive Phonological Disorders

Abstract

In this study, 30 children with expressive phonological disorders and 27 children with normally developing phonological and language abilities were administered measures of expressive phonology, phonological awareness, and language ability at the end of kindergarten. A year later, children were given tests of reading achievement. Although the group with expressive phonological disorders performed significantly less well than the control group on tests of reading achievement, a great deal of within-group variability was observed. Children with expressive phonological disorders were divided into those with good and poor reading outcomes and compared on measures of expressive phonology, phonological awareness, and language ability. Children with poor reading outcomes had more severe expressive phonological disorders (as measured by a multisyllabic word and nonword repetition task; MULTI-PCC), poorer phonological awareness, and poorer language skills than did children in the good reading outcome group. Hierarchical multiple regression indicated that expressive phonology (as measured by MULTI-PCC) and phonological awareness in kindergarten accounted for significant amounts of variance in first-grade reading achievement. Variability in children’s expressive phonology and phonological awareness may be a reflection of individual differences in their development of phonological representations. Clinical implications of these findings for identification and remediation of reading disabilities are discussed.