Early literacy skills in Latvian preschool children with specific language impairment

Abstract

The present study explores differences in early literacy skills of Latvian preschool children with Specific Language Impairment (SLI) compared to children from general population. The participants were 21 children with diagnosis of Specific developmental disorders of speech and language (F80; ICD-10) and 21 children as matched control group (in each group: mean age=79 months, 88% boys). Both samples were selected from the adaptation and standardization study of Dynamic Indicators of Basic Early Literacy Skills (DIBELS Next) in Latvia (Good & Kaminski et al., 2011; Latvian version, Rascevska et al., 2013a). The results show significant differences between two groups in DIBELS Next composite score (t=3.09, p < .01), First Sound Fluency (t = 2.54, p < .05), Phoneme Segmentation Fluency (t = 2.80, p < .01), Correct Letter Sounds (t = 3.38, p < .01) and Whole Words Read (t = 3.39, p < .01) from Nonsense Word Fluency. Phoneme awareness represented by first sound and phoneme segmentation fluency and phonological decoding observed during nonsense word reading was poorer for the SLI group, albeit letter naming did not differ in both groups. No differences in letter naming might be explained due to intensive instruction the children with SLI are receiving in their institution of special education, while children from general population might not have this enhanced support. Phoneme awareness represented by first sound and phoneme segmentation fluency and phonological decoding observed during nonsense word reading was poorer for the SLI group, albeit letter naming did not differ in both groups. No differences in letter naming might be explained due to intensive instruction the children with SLI are receiving in their institution of special education, while children from general population might not have this enhanced support.