Phonogram and word decoding patterns in children with developmental language disorders: Evidence for protracted...

Area of Science:

• Linguistics
• Developmental Psychology
• Education

Background:

• Children with developmental language disorder (DLD) often face word reading challenges.
• Research on how DLD affects decoding of irregular English orthography is limited.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate word and phonogram decoding and recognition in children with DLD.
• To examine how children with DLD process graphemic properties, particularly irregular spellings.

Main Methods:

• Sixty children with DLD and typical language (TLD), plus 19 adults, completed decoding and recognition tasks.
• Participants decoded phonograms, words, and pseudowords, identifying phonogram forms.
• Responses were classified as graphophonemic (letter-sound), target (irregular spelling), or incorrect.

Main Results:

• Children with DLD consistently used more serial letter-sound decoding than TLD peers and adults.
• Performance differences were noted across grade levels, with some convergence in 4th-5th graders.
• Recognition tasks showed varied response patterns, with DLD participants favoring letter-sound selections.

Conclusions:

• Children with DLD exhibit prolonged graphophonemic decoding stages.
• A developmental trend of improvement in decoding is observed from 2nd to 5th grade.
• Findings offer developmental insights and clinical implications for DLD interventions.