Part of
Specific Language Impairment: Current trends in researchEdited by Stavroula Stavrakaki
[Language Acquisition and Language Disorders 58] 2015
► pp. 89–112
Edited by Stavroula Stavrakaki
[Language Acquisition and Language Disorders 58] 2015
► pp. 89–112
Comparing SLI and dyslexia: developmental language profiles and reading outcomes
In light of the striking overlap in symptoms, it has been proposed that SLI and dyslexia reflect the same underlying disorder, differing only in severity. An alternative view is that SLI and dyslexia overlap (only) partially, sharing some risk factors, and differing on various others. We will address this debate by presenting results from a longitudinal study of children at familial risk of dyslexia and children with SLI. We focus on two experimental tasks conducted with preschool children, assessing morphosyntactic ability and phonological processing. The performances of each group were compared and related to language and literacy profiles established at age 8. The results agree most with the hypothesis that SLI and dyslexia share risk factors, but are not fully overlapping.
References
Bishop, D.V.M., McDonald, D., Bird, A. & Hayiou-Thomas, M.E
2009 Children who read words accurately despite language impairment: Who are they and how do they do it? Child Development 80: 593–605. 
Bishop, D.V.M. & Snowling, M.J
2004 Developmental dyslexia and specific language impairment: Same or different? Psychological Bulletin 130: 858–886.
Brus, B.T. & Voeten, M.J.M
1972 Een-Minuut Test. Vorm A en B. Nijmegen: Berkhout Testmateriaal.
Carroll, J.M. & Myers, J
2010 Speech and language difficulties in children with and without a family history of dyslexia. Scientific Studies of Reading 14: 247–226.
Carroll, J.M. & Snowling, M.J
2004 Language and phonological skills in children at high risk of reading difficulties. Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry 45: 631–640.
Catts, H.W., Hu, C.-F., Larrivée, L. & Swank, L
1994 Early identification of reading disabilities in children with speech–language impairments. In Specific Language Impairments in Children, R. Watkins & M. Rice (eds), 145–160. Baltimore MD: Paul H. Brookes.
Catts, H.W., Adlof, S.M., Hogan, T.P. & Weismer, S.E
2005 Are specific language impairment and dyslexia distinct disorders? Journal of Speech, Language, and Hearing Research 48: 1378–1396.
de Bree, E. & Kerkhoff, A
2010 Bempen or bemben: Differences between children at-risk of dyslexia and children with SLI on a morpho-phonological task. Scientific Studies of Reading 14: 85–109.
de Bree, E., Rispens, J. & Gerrits, E
2007 Non-word repetition in Dutch children with (a risk of) dyslexia and SLI. Clinical Linguistics & Phonetics 21: 935–944.
de Bree, E., Snowling, M., Gerrits, E., van Alphen, P., van der Leij, A. & Wijnen, F
2012 Phonology and literacy? Follow-up results of the Utrecht dyslexia and SLI project. In Developmental Dyslexia: Early Precursors, Neurobehavioural Markers and Biological Substrates, A. Benasich & R. Holly Fitch (eds), 133–150. Baltimore MD: Paul Brookes.
de Bree, E. & van der Pas, B
2011 Weak syllable truncation in children with a familial risk of dyslexia and children with SLI. In Sound and Sounds. Studies Presented to M.E.H. (Bert) Schouten on the Occasion of his 65th Birthday, W. Zonneveld, H. Quené & W. Heeren (eds), 21–32. Utrecht: UiL OTS.
de Bree, E., Wijnen, F. & Gerrits, E
2010 Non-word repetition and literacy in Dutch children at-risk of dyslexia and children with SLI: Results of the follow-up study. Dyslexia 16 36–44.
de Jong, P.F. & van der Leij, A
2003 Developmental changes in the manifestation of a phonological deficit in dyslexic children learning to read a regular orthography. Journal of Educational Psychology 95: 22–40.
Fraser, J., Goswami, U. & Conti-Ramsden, G
2010 Dyslexia and Specific Language Impairment: The role of phonology and auditory processing. Scientific Studies of Reading 14: 8–29.
Gerrits, E. & de Bree, E
2009 Speech perception and production in dyslexia and SLI: Evidence from 3–4 year olds. Journal of Communication Disorders 42: 180–194.
Horsley, T.M
2005 Not All Dyslexics are Created Equal: Neurocognitive Evidence. PhD dissertation, Free University Amsterdam.
Joanisse, M., Manis, F.R., Keating, P. & Seidenberg, M.S
2000 Language deficits in dyslexic children: Speech perception, phonology, and morphology. Journal of Experimental Child Psychology 77(1): 30–60.
Kamhi, A.G., Catts, H.W., Mauer, D., Apel, K. & Gentry, B
1988 Phonological and spatial processing abilities in language and reading-impaired children. Journal of Speech and Hearing Disorders 53: 316–327.
Kirk, S., McCarthy, J. & Kirk, W
1968 The Illinois Test of Psycholinguistic Abilities. Urbana IL: University of Illinois Press.
Koster, C., Been, P., Krikhaar, E., Zwarts, F., Diepstra, H. & van Leeuwen, T
2005 Differences at 17 months: Productive language patterns in infants at familial risk for dyslexia and typically developing infants. Journal of Speech, Language, and Hearing Research 48: 426–438.
Larkin, R.F. & Snowling, M.J
2008 Comparing phonological skills and spelling abilities in children, with reading and language impairments. International Journal of Language and Communication Disorders 43: 111–124.
Leonard, L.B
1998 Children with Specific Language Impairment. Cambridge MA: The MIT Press.
Locke, J.L., Hodgson, J., Macaruso, P., Roberts, J., Lambrecht-Smith, S. & Guttentag, C
1997 The development of developmental dyslexia. In Dyslexia: Biology, Cognition and Intervention, C. Hulme & M. Snowling (eds), 72 – 96. London: Whurr.
Lyytinen, P., Poikkeus, A., Laakso, M., Eklund, K. & Lyytinen, H
2001 Language development and symbolic play in children with and without familial risk for dyslexia. Journal of Speech, Language, and Hearing Research, 44, 873–885.
Marshall, C.R. & van der Lely, H.K.J
2009 Effects of word position and stress on onset cluster production: Evidence from typical development, Specific Language Impairment and dyslexia. Language 85: 39–57.
Marshall, C.R., Harcourt-Brown, S., Ramus, F. & van der Lely, H.K.J
2009 The link between prosody and language skills in children with SLI and/or dyslexia. International Journal of Language and Communication Disorders 44: 466–488.
McArthur, G.M. & Castles, A
2011 Phonological processing deficits in specific reading disability and specific language impairment: Same or different? Journal of Research in Reading 36(3): 280–302.
McArthur, G.M., Hogben J.H., Edwards V.T., Heath S.M. & Mengler E.D
2000 On the ‘specifics’ of specific reading disability and specific language impairment. Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry 41: 869–874.
Messbauer, V.C.S, de Jong, P.F. & van der Leij, D.A.V
2002 Manifestation of phonological deficits in dyslexia: Evidence from Dutch childrens. In Precursors of functional literacy, Verhoeven, L., C. Elbro, & P. Reitsma (eds), 69–88. Amsterdam: Benjamins.
Pennington, B.F
2006 From single to multiple deficit models of developmental disorders. Cognition 101: 385–413.
Pennington, B.F. & Bishop, D.V.M
2009 Relations among speech, language, and reading disorders. Annual Review of Psychology 60: 283–306.
Ramus, F., Marshall, C.R., Rosen, S. & van der Lely, H.K.J
2013 Phonological deficits in specific language impairment and developmental dyslexia: Towards a multidimensional model. Brain 135: 630–645.
Rispens, J.E
2004 Syntactic and Phonological Processing in Developmental Dyslexia. PhD dissertation, University of Groningen.
Rispens, J.E. & Been, P
2007 Subject-verb agreement and phonological processing in developmental dyslexia and SLI: A closer look. International Journal of Communication Disorders 42(3): 293–305.
Robertson, E.K., Joanisse, M.F., Desroches, A.S. & Ng, S
2009 Categorical speech perception deficits distinguish language and reading impairments in children. Developmental Science 12: 753–767.
Robertson, E.K., Joanisse, M.F., Desroches, A.S. & Terry, A
2013 Past-tense morphology and phonological deficits in children with dyslexia and children with language impairment. Journal of Learning Disabilities 46(3): 230–240.
Scarborough, H.S
1990 Very early language deficits in dyslexic children. Child Development 61: 1728–1743.
Shankweiler, D., Crain, S., Katz, L., Fowler, A.E., Liberman, A.M., Brady, S.A., Thornton, R., Lundquist, E., Dreyer, L., Fletcher, J.M., Stuebing, K.K., Shaywitz, S.E. & Shaywitz, B.A
1995 Cognitive profiles of reading-disabled children: Comparison of language skills in phonology, morphology, and syntax. Psychological Science 6: 149–156.
Snowling, M.J
2000 Dyslexia. Malden MA: Blackwell.
Snowling, M.J., Muter, V. & Carroll, J
2007 Children at family risk of dyslexia: A follow-up in early adolescence. Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry 48: 609–618.
Tallal, P., Allard, L., Miller, S. & Curtiss, S
1997 Academic outcomes of language impaired children. In Dyslexia: Biology, Cognition, and Intervention, C. Hulme & M. Snowling (eds), 167–181. London: Whurr.
van Alphen, P., de Bree, E., Gerrits, E., de Jong, J., Wilsenach, C. & Wijnen, F
2004 Early language development in children with a genetic risk for dyslexia. Dyslexia 10: 265–288.
van Bergen, E., de Jong, P.F., Plakas, A., Maassen, B. & van der Leij, D.A.V
2012 Child and parental literacy levels within families with a history of dyslexia. Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry 53: 28–36.
van Bon, W.H.J. & Hoekstra, J.G
1982 Taaltests voor Kinderen. Lisse: Swets & Zeitlinger.
van den Bos, K.P., Spelberg, H.C.L, Scheepstra, A.J.M. & de Vries, J.R
1994 De KLEPEL. Een Test voor de Leesvaardigheid van Pseudo-woorden. Nijmegen: Berkhout Testmateriaal.
van den Bosch, L., Gillijns, P., Krom, R.S.H., Moelands, F., Geurts, J.M. & Verhoeven, L
1993 Leerlingvolgsysteem: Schaal Vorderingen in Spellingvaardigheid 1, groep 3–4. Hulpboek. Arnhem: CITO.
van der Lely, H.K. & Marshall, C.R
2011 Grammatical-specific language impairment: A window onto domain specificity. In Handbook of Psycholinguistics and Cognitive Processing Perspectives in Communication Disorder, J. Guendouzi, F. Loncke, & M. Williams (eds), 403 – 419. Hove: Psychology Press.
Verhoeven, L
1993 Lezen met Begrip: Schaal Betekenis Relaties 1, Groep 3–4. Handleiding. Arnhem: CITO.
1996 Handleiding Woordenschattoets. Arnhem: Cito.
Visser, J., van Laarhoven A. & ter Beek, A
(1996) AVI-toetspakket, 3rd rev. edn. Den Bosch: KPC Groep.
Vogel, S.A
1974 Syntactic abilities in normal and dyslexic children. Journal of Learning Disabilities 7: 103–109.
Wilsenach, C. & Wijnen, F
2004 Perceptual sensitivity to morphosyntactic agreement in language learners. Evidence from Dutch children at risk for developing dyslexia. Proceedings of 28th BU Conference on Language Development, A. Brugos, L. Micciulla & C.E. Smith (Eds.), 645–656. Somerville MA: Cascadilla Press.
Cited by
Cited by 4 other publications
Giannikas, Christina Nicole, Maria Kambanaros & Elena Theodorou
2021. English foreign language teachers’ awareness of childhood language impairment. Clinical Linguistics & Phonetics 35:10 ► pp. 909 ff. 
Moll, Kristina
2022. Comorbidity of Reading Disorders. In The Science of Reading, ► pp. 439 ff.
Richtrová, Barbora
2019. SELF DEVELOPMENT IN CHILDREN WITH SPECIFIC LANGUAGE IMPAIRMENT. Listy klinické logopedie 3:1 ► pp. 29 ff.
Smid, Sanne C., Sarah Depaoli & Rens Van De Schoot
2020. Predicting a Distal Outcome Variable From a Latent Growth Model: ML versus Bayesian Estimation. Structural Equation Modeling: A Multidisciplinary Journal 27:2 ► pp. 169 ff.
This list is based on CrossRef data as of 20 april 2024. Please note that it may not be complete. Sources presented here have been supplied by the respective publishers. Any errors therein should be reported to them.