Comparing spoken language development in Dyslexic and Normal First to Third Grade Students

The goal of this study was to compare language development in dyslexic and normal children. This study was descriptive and employed causal-comparative ex post facto design. Participants were 60 first to third grade elementary students: 30 with developmental dyslexia and 30 normal students. These students were selected by availability sampling and by using Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children-Revised (WISC-R) and Reading and Dyslexia (NAMA). At the end, the development of spoken language was measured via Test of Language Development (TOLD-P: 3). In order to analyze data, Mann-Whitney Test and Kruskal Wallis Test were used. Findings obtained from this research showed that there was a significant difference between mean of scores of dyslexic and normal children in linguistic areas which included: semantic or lexical areas (picture vocabulary, relational vocabulary, and oral vocabulary) and syntactic areas (grammatical comprehension, sentence imitation, and grammatical completion). That is, the mean of scores of normal children was higher than dyslexic group. Therefore, according to obtained findings from this survey, it can be concluded that dyslexic children compared to normal subjects had weaker linguistic abilities in semantics, syntax, and spoken language. Furthermore, there was a significant difference between mean of scores of dyslexic and normal children in Spoken language areas in grades 1-3 and third graders had better language performance compared to first and second graders in both groups. Therefore, it is suggested that along with other therapeutic interventions, teaching of linguistic areas be included in the treatment program for children with dyslexia.

Extended Abstract:        
Dyslexia is a severe type of learning disability that affects some children, adolescents and adults (Lyon B, 1995). Weber (1985), in the Culture of psychology, refers to dyslexia as any kind of reading disability  in which the children lag behind their class in the field of reading. There is no objective evidence that indicates deficiencies such as mental retardation, major brain damage or emotional and cultural problems as well as speech. Almost 80% of students with learning disabilities have difficulties in reading (Mays and Calhoun, 2006).
Today many studies show that children with learning disabilities have less skills in phonological, semantic, syntactic and communicational skills than their peers. In addition, attempts to describe subgroups of children with learning disabilities prove that the largest subgroup is children with linguistic weaknesses that almost form half of the population of children with learning disabilities (Brian et al., 1991, p. 119). The prevalence of spoken language disorders among students with learning disabilities shows that these disorders are one of the most common problems of these students, but these problems have not been much considered (Halahan et al, 2011؛ quoted in Alizadeh et al., 1390, p. 442).
One of the issues that has attracted the attention of researchers in recent years is the relationship between the development and evolution of language and its fundamental role in reading skills.
Linguistic disorders affect not only the individual's ability to communicate in everyday life, but also prevent the learning of skills such as reading and writing, as well as have a negative effect on performance in other areas such as participation in social interactions and learning foreign  language (Halahan et al., 2011؛ quoted in Alizadeh et al., 1390, p. 440) so, as for the importance and role of language in learning of reading skills, in this research, we sought to answer the general question of what is the difference between linguistic development of dyslexic children and normal children in the first to third grades of elementary schools. It should be noted that because spoken language is a very complex category (Halahan et al., 2011, quoted in Alizadeh et al., 1390, p. 439), in this study, only two aspects of the spoken language that are considered in Test of Language Development (TOLD-P: 3) (1998) have been studied. Therefore, the purpose of the development of spoken language in this research is the skills that include the semantic domains (picture vocabulary, relational vocabulary, and oral vocabulary) and syntax (grammatical comprehension, sentence imitation, and grammatical completion).
It should be noted that the present study was conducted within the framework of psychology of language and examined the relationship between language and reading. In addition, the purpose of the growth of language in this article is the development of spoken language; therefore, the research hypotheses are:
The first hypothesis: dyslexic children have a weaker performance than their normal counterparts in the growth of semantic / lexical domains (picture vocabulary, relational vocabulary, and oral vocabulary), and their difference in performance is statistically significant.
The Second hypothesis: The performance of dyslexic children in the development of syntactic domains (grammatical comprehension, sentence imitation, and grammatical completion) is weaker than their normal counterparts, so that there is a significant difference between their performance.
The third hypothesis: There is a significant difference between the development of spoken language (semantic and syntactic skills) in dyslexic children and normal children, and dyslexic children have a weaker performance than their normal children.
The fourth hypothesis: With increasing educational level, the growth of speech language of children in both dyslexic and normal groups is significantly increased.
The fifth hypothesis: There is a significant difference between the growth of spoken language domains ​​of dyslexic children and the normal first to third grade elementary students.
This study was descriptive and causal-comparative( ex post facto). participants were 60 students: 30 students with developmental dyslexia and 30 normal students  of grades 1- 3 in elementary schools of Kerman city. These students were selected by non-random sampling and by using Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children-Revised (WISC-R) and Reading and Dyslexia (NAMA) Test. At the end, the growth of spoken language between two groups were measured via Test of Language Development (TOLD-P: 3).
The data that were analyzed in this study included scores that normal and dyslexic students in the first to third grade of elementary students received in Test of Language Development. The data were analyzed using descriptive and inferential statistics.
Descriptive statistics includes the calculation of mean and standard deviations. The hypothesis tests was performed by using Mann-Whitney and Kruskal-Wallis statistical tests with a significance level of 0.05 and With the help of the SPSS software.
Findings obtained from this research showed that there is a significant relationship between mean of scores of dyslexic and normal children in linguistic areas which include: semantic or lexical areas (picture vocabulary, relational vocabulary, and oral vocabulary) and syntactic areas (grammatical comprehension, sentence imitation, and grammatical completion). The mean of scores of normal children was higher than dyslexic groups. Therefore, according to obtained findings from this survey, it can be concluded that dyslexic children compared to normal subjects have a weaker performance both in the whole test and in each subtests in semantics, syntax and spoken language. Furthermore, there is a significant difference between mean of scores of dyslexic and normal children in Spoken language areas in 1-3 grades.  Children in third grade had better language performance compared to first and second graders in both groups. Therefore, it is suggested that teaching linguistic areas, along with other therapeutic interventions, be included in the treatment program for children with dyslexia.