SLHS Research Colloquium Series: Crystle N. Alonzo, PhD, MS, CCC-SLP | Oct 30

Speech, Language and Hearing Sciences Research Colloquium Series “Predicting Literacy Impairments in Young Children with and without Developmental Language Disorder Presented by Crystle N. Alonzo, PhD, MS, CCC-SLP Assistant Professor at San Diego State University. Children with Developmental Language Disorder (DLD) are at an increased risk for learning disabilities and poor academic achievement and are six times more likely to have a reading impairment than their peers with typical development. Research has found that 30-50% of those with DLD present with word reading difficulties, classifying them as having co-morbid dyslexia. However, most children with DLD who successfully learn to read words still have poor reading comprehension, classifying them as poor comprehenders, and thus highlighting the importance of early identification and intervention for this population. In the first study, we aimed to improve early identification of comprehension difficulties in young children by determining prekindergarten predictors of second grade listening comprehension and found that a quick, reliable measure of sentence imitation and/or listening comprehension, administered in prekindergarten, provides insight into a child’s second grade listening comprehension. In the second study, we aimed to improve early identification of dyslexia in children with DLD by examining growth in orthographic knowledge and found that kindergarten letter identification is a more accurate predictor than phonological awareness of dyslexia in 2nd grade in children with DLD. Finally, in the third study, we aimed to improve early identification of literacy difficulties in young children by assessing comprehension, while controlling for background knowledge, and examining the relationship between knowledge acquisition and inhibition, an executive functioning task, in preschool children with and without DLD. Our findings showed compelling preliminary support for a new model of preschool comprehension that showcases both the direct and indirect effects of background knowledge and inhibition on knowledge acquisition and comprehension in preschool age children with a wide range of language abilities. These studies are significant because identifying early predictors for later literacy impairments in children with and without DLD can lead to improved early identification and more effective interventions prior to reading failure. Meeting ID: 946 0825 6708 Passcode: 755863