Reading skills in Down syndrome: an examination of orthographic knowledge

The primary purpose of the present study was to examine orthographic knowledge in a sample of individuals with Down syndrome (DS) in comparison to typically developing (TD) children matched on word identification ability. Phonological recoding was also compared across groups. A secondary purpose of the study was to estimate literacy rates in DS using parent reports. Results of the parent study revealed that most individuals with DS over the age of 5 years can read words. Results of the child study revealed that individuals with DS performed worse than TD controls on a measure of phonological recoding, but similarly on two measures of orthographic knowledge. Interestingly, the group with DS performed worse on a third measure of orthographic knowledge. The first two orthographic tasks both included real words as stimuli; the third orthographic task used letter patterns, but did not include real words. These results suggest that individuals with DS may have a relative strength in word-specific orthographic knowledge but not in general orthographic knowledge.

Grantor dc:publisher

University of Alabama Libraries

Year dc:date.issued

2013

Author dc:creator

• Loveall, Susan Janel

Advisor dc:contributor.advisor

• Conners, Frances A.

Contributors dc:contributor

• Merrill, Edward C.
• Ryan, Sarah M.
• Swoszowski, Nicole C.
• Scofield, Jason M.
• Boles, David B.

• Developmental psychology
• Cognitive psychology
• Experimental psychology

Statement dc:rights

• All rights reserved by the author unless otherwise indicated.

Language dc:language.iso

en_US, English

Dc Identifier Other

u0015_0000001_0001379
Loveall_alatus_0004D_11569

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:ir.ua.edu:123456789/1846