Dyslexia, Speech and Language
Chapter One
Language skills and learning to
read: the dyslexia spectrum
Margaret J. Snowling
Children vary in the age at which they first start to talk. For many families,
late talking might go unnoticed, particularly if the child in question is the
first born of the family and no comparisons can be made. Later in the preschool
years, children may be difficult to understand; they might have a
large repertoire of their 'own words' that others find unintelligible. Such
utterances are often endearing, the source of family amusement, and no
one worries much because an older sibling can translate. But speech or language
delay can be the first sign of reading difficulties, difficulties that will
come to the fore only when the child starts school; a key issue therefore is
when is 'late talking' a concern, and when is it just part of typical variation?
Language is a complex syst ... read full excerpt from Dyslexia, Speech and Language: A Practitioner's Handbook ebook
