Grammar in developmental dyslexia?

[Ann Dowker]

There are a certain number of potentially relevant studies. These include
(a) the role of syntactic awareness in reading development; and
(2) relationships between specific language impairment and dyslexia.

With regard to syntactic awareness and reading, you may be interested in:

W. Tunmer et al: Syntactic awareness and reading acquisition; British
Journal of Developmental Psychology, 1987, 5, 25-34

L. Rego and P. Bryant: The connection between phonological, syntactic and
semantic skills and children's reading and spelling; Europaean Journal of
Psychology of Education, 1993, 8, 235-246.

C. Gaux and J. Gombert: Implicit and explicit syntactic knowledge and
reading in pre-adolescents; British Journal of Developmental Psychology,
1999, 17, 169-188

P. Bryant, T. Nunes and M. Bindman: The relationship between children's
linguistic awareness and spelling: the case of the apostrophe; Reading and
Writing, 2000, 12, 253-276

D. Walzman and M. Cairns: Grammatical knowledge of 3rd-grade good and poor
readers; Applied Psycholinguistics, 2000, 21, 263-284.

And in some of the material in the following classic book:

A. Sinclair, R. Jarvella and W. Levelt (eds.): The Child's Conception of
Language; Springer-Verlag, 1978.


As regards relationships between specific language impairment (including
grammatical impairment) and dyslexia, there is some very interesting work
by Dorothy Bishop and her colleagues. You might want to look at Bishop's
book, "Uncommon Understanding"; and also at the following article:


M. Snowling, D. Bishop and S. Stodhard: Is preschool language impairment a
risk factor for dyslexia in adolescence?; Journal of Child Psychology and
Psychiatry, 2000, 41, 587-600


At the risk of overgeneralizing, I think that most psychologists probably
regard grammar/syntax as the most crucial defining feature of human
language. Some would regard semantics as more important than syntax, or
argue that the two cannot be separated. Few would nowadays regard sounds
as the foundation for language, since this would exclude sign languages.

Hope this helps,

Ann

 On Mon, 4 Jun 2001, Tommy Wingren wrote:

>
> --
> Hi,
> its a well-known fact that developmental
> dyslexia may have to do with a weakness in
> the phonological system. But do anyone
> know about any studies that has looked at
> grammar in developmental dyslexia?
>    Its important for my future dissertation.
>    By the way, is grammar the foundation of
> language( words according to Eve V Clark,
> 1993, p 1) or is it sounds, as many
> psychologists seems to believe?
>
> Thanks!
>
>
> Tommy Wingren
> Lund University
> Dept. of Scandinavian Linguistics
>
> Helgonabacken 14
> 223 62 Lund
> Sweden
>
> Ref Eve V Clark(1993) The lexicon in acquisition.
>
>