A comparative, descriptive study of reading and writing skills among non-speaking children: a preliminary study

For many non-speaking. Bliss-using persons with cerebral palsy (CP), literacy skills seem hard to achieve, although their cognitive functioning and verbal reception skills would predict good reading and writing. The aim of this study was to describe literacy skills in relation to intellectual level and to level of phonological awareness, which are both considered important predictors of literacy in the speaking population. Seven disabled adolescents participated in the study. In a comparison group there were seven children matched for results on a non-verbal intelligence test and a test of phonological awareness. The subjects in the disability group performed on a lower level on reading and spelling variables than the subjects in the comparison group. The results also indicated that the spelling skills of the subjects in the disability group were more developed than their reading skills, and that spelling of words represented by photographs of well-known objects, presented visually only, seemed more difficult than spelling of words presented orally. A tentative explanation of these latter two results was proposed, namely that the phonological awareness of the subjects facilitated spelling, but that access to phonological and orthographic representation of visually presented material might be more difficult than orally presented material for non-speaking persons. The differences between the two groups also suggested that the subjects in the disabled group seemed to have difficulty in benefiting from formal literacy skills training at school.