Growth and predictive relations of vocabulary and inflectional morphology in children with and without familial risk for dyslexia

Abstract

The growth and predictive relations of early vocabulary and inflectional morphology were examined in children with (N=107) and without (N=93) familial risk for dyslexia. Children's receptive and expressive vocabulary and inflectional morphological skills were assessed longitudinally at 2, 2.5, 3.5, and 5 years by using a parent report tool (the MacArthur Communicative Development Inventory), measures from a spontaneous speech sample, and standardized tests. Children with and without familial risk for dyslexia did not differ from each other, either in expressive vocabulary or in composite scores of inflectional morphology at the age of 2 years. However, language skills indicated increasing group differences with age. Inflectional morphology showed differing predictive patterns for the at-risk group and their controls. Proficiency of inflections at 2 years significantly predicted 5-year-olds' language skills in the at-risk group. In contrast, for their age-matched controls inflections were not a significant predictor until the age of 3.5 years. Our findings suggest that children from families with dyslexia risk status and low inflectional skills at an early age are at higher risk for impairments in subsequent language development than are their age-matched controls.

The Relationship between Morphological Awareness and Vocabulary Size of EFL Learners

“…In a previous study, Lyytinen and Lyytinen (2004) suggest that early identification of grammatical markers is important for L1 children because the markers may persist and influence the children's following language development. Noun inflections were acquired early; followed by verb inflections; and finally verb and adjective inflections at the following age.…”

Morphological awareness and early and advanced word recognition and spelling in Dutch

“…Lyytinen & Lyytinen, 2004;McBride-Chang, Wagner, Muse, Chow, & Hua, 2005;Shankweiler et al, 1995;Wysocki & Jenkins, 1987). We therefore measured phonological skills and vocabulary to statistically control for these variables in order to investigate the contribution of morphological awareness independently from these skills.…”

Cognitive profiles of chinese adolescents with dyslexia

“…For example, reading disability studies in both English (Elbro & Arnbak, 1996) and Finnish (Lyytinen & Lyytinen, 2004) found that children with dyslexia evinced a distinct morphological weakness in spoken language production and comprehension, which the researchers suggested influenced the dyslexic children's reading ability, but which also seemed a specific factor that induced reading disability. Recently, Shu et al (2006) reported that morphological awareness was one of the best discriminators for children with and without dyslexia.…”