| Children with specific reading disorder (SRD) have difficulty sounding out and recognizing words, which results in reading skills below expected grade level. Previous research has indicated that children with SRD have impairments in phonological processing skills, including phonological awareness, verbal working memory, and rapid naming. In contrast, children with SRD appear to have adequate oral language, better than their expected reading level. Because reading is a language-based skill, and because children who have oral language impairments frequently have poor reading ability, it is less clear that oral language is really typical in children with SRD. The purpose of this study was to determine if oral language skills in children with SRD were similar to or better than reading level. Children with SRD in second through fourth grade were compared to younger children matched for reading level (RL) and children matched for age (AM). The results indicated children with SRD performed more similar to their reading level on oral language tasks. Children with SRD also performed less well on phonological processing tasks than the RL and AM groups. The results are consistent with previous research that has shown phonological processing skills are impaired in children with SRD. In addition the results indicate children with SRD have oral language like younger children, and more consistent with their reading level. |
