Occurrence of Reading Skills in a National Age Cohort of Norwegian Children with Down Syndrome: What Characterizes Those Who Develop Early Reading Skills?

Children with Down syndrome are at risk of reading difficulties. Reading skills crucial for social and academic development, thus, understanding the nature in this clinical group is important. This longitudinal study investigated occurrence a Norwegian national age cohort 43 children from beginning first grade to third grade. Data were collected determine which characteristics distinguished those who developed early did not. The children?s decoding skills, phonological awareness, nonverbal mental ability, vocabulary, verbal short-term memory, letter knowledge rapid automatized naming (RAN) performance measured annually. results showed that 18.6% by Prior onset, had significantly superior vocabulary than non-readers after controlling abilities. These findings indicate specific training focuses on words letters may be particularly effective promoting onset syndrome.