Browsing by Author "Tentke, Tanja"

Aim of the study. Compared to typically developing children, a child with a familial risk for dyslexia is four times more likely to develop major difficulties in reading. Difficulties in early language development, such as a narrow vocabulary, may precede later difficulties in reading, especially when the child is at risk for dyslexia. Because reading builds partly upon prereading skills, such recognizing letters and knowing how they sound like, weak early language skills such as a small vocabulary size, may be an early sign for later deficits in prereading skills. The interest of this current study was to investigate whether a child’s vocabulary size at 28 months can predict prereading skills at the age of five. Methods. The research data were based on Lukivauva longitudinal study, which follows the development of children who have a familial risk for dyslexia. 220 families were recruited in the study before the baby was born, between 2015 and 2017. The sample of this current study consists of 93 children, of which 80.6 % had a familial dyslexia risk and 19.4 % were controls. To evaluate early vocabulary size, parents filled out the MCDI questionnaire (MacArthur Communicative Developmental Inventories) when the child was 28 months old. Prereading skills were measured at the age of five as a part of Reading and writing questionnaire. Results. Early vocabulary size predicted later prereading skills only for the at-risk group. In the whole sample, predictors for prereading skills were early vocabulary size, familial dyslexia risk and gender combined. Maternal education didn’t predict prereading skills in either of the groups. Conclusions. Small early vocabulary size can predict weaker prereading skills when the child is at familial risk for dyslexia. Prereading skills form the basis for effortless reading and therefore the signs that predict prereading skills ought to be noticed early. In families with dyslexia, the parents could evaluate their child’s early vocabulary size by filling out the MCDI questionnaire as a part of the check-ups at maternity and child health clinics, for example. This would allow the children at the highest risk for weak prereading skills to be noticed.