RESUMO
PURPOSE: This study examined the development of timing characteristics in early spontaneous speech of children who were later identified as having reading disability (RD). METHOD: Child-adult play sessions were recorded longitudinally at 2 and 3 years of age in 27 children, most of whom were at high familial risk for RD. For each speaking turn, the number of syllables was determined and an acoustic analysis measured the time allocated to articulation, pausing before speaking, and pausing during speaking. RESULTS: In grade school, a reading battery identified 9 children with RD and 18 children without RD (9 at high risk, 9 at low risk). Early speaking rate was significantly slower in the group with RD, with significantly different patterns of pausing compared with children without RD. Group differences became more distinct by age 3, as longer speaking turns were attempted. CONCLUSIONS: The results are discussed in terms of speech and language formulation. Phonetic plans may be shorter and/or less specified in children with RD, surfacing as slow, short speaking turns with increased pausing relative to articulation. This explanation is consistent with several accounts of RD and provides a perspective on how speech and language deficits may manifest during spontaneous verbal interactions between young children and adults.
Assuntos
Dislexia/fisiopatologia , Fala/fisiologia , Comportamento Verbal/fisiologia , Pré-Escolar , Dislexia/epidemiologia , Feminino , Humanos , Testes de Linguagem , Estudos Longitudinais , Masculino , Tempo de Reação/fisiologia , Leitura , Fatores de Risco , Acústica da Fala , Inteligibilidade da FalaRESUMO
PURPOSE: This study evaluated whether developmental reading disability could be predicted in children at the age of 30 months, according to 3 measures of speech production: speaking rate, articulation rate, and the proportion of speaking time allocated to pausing. METHOD: Speech samples of 18 children at high risk and 10 children at low risk for reading disability were recorded at 30 months of age. High risk was determined by history of reading disability in at least 1 of the child's parents. In grade school, a reading evaluation identified 9 children within the high-risk group as having reading disability and 9 children as not having reading disability. The 10 children at low risk for reading disability tested negative for reading disability. RESULTS: Children with reading disability showed a significantly slower speaking rate than children at high risk without reading disability. Children with reading disability allocated significantly more time to pausing, as compared with the other groups. Articulation rate did not differ significantly across groups. CONCLUSIONS: Speaking rate and the proportion of pausing time to speaking time may provide an early indication of reading outcome in children at high risk for reading disability.
Assuntos
Dislexia/diagnóstico , Leitura , Comportamento Verbal , Análise de Variância , Pré-Escolar , Feminino , Humanos , Masculino , Valor Preditivo dos Testes , Fatores de Risco , Medida da Produção da Fala , Gravação em FitaRESUMO
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.