Non-word repetition in Dutch-speaking children with specific language impairment with and without reading problems

摘要

Recently, English studies have shown a relationship between non-word repetition(NWR) and the presence of reading problems (RP). Children with specific languageimpairment (SLI) but without RP performed similarly to their typically developing(TD) peers, whereas children with SLI and RP performed significantly worse onan NWR task. The current study was undertaken to investigate whether thisdifference in NWR performance is also found in a language with a transparentorthography – Dutch. The study included 15 TD children and 29 children with SLI.All children performed an NWR task that included non-words of 2-5 syllables inlength. Children with SLI – RP (N = II) did not differ on any of the four conditionsfrom the TD group, whereas the children with SLI RP (N = 18) scored more poorlyon the 3-, 4-, and 5-syllable items compared to the TD group. NWR performance wassignificantly poorer on the 3- and 4-syllable conditions for children with SLI + RPcompared to SLI – RP. To conclude, NWR is specifically affected in children withSLI RP who are learning to read and write in a transparent orthography. Our dataunderline the dependency relation between literacy development and NWRperformance in children with SLI.