Comparative cross-sectional study explores decoding abilities in readers with Down syndrome, indicating orthographic depth influences performance.
Key Points
This study investigates the reading abilities of Maltese individuals with Down syndrome, focusing on the influences of cognitive-linguistic skills and orthographic depth on decoding performance.
Comparative cross-sectional design including 15 participants with Down syndrome and 19 typically developing peers matched on fluid intelligence.
Assessment of word and nonword reading in both Maltese and English.
Measures included phonological awareness, visual perceptual processing, verbal short-term memory, receptive vocabulary, and sentence imitation.
Participants with Down syndrome showed comparable performance in word and nonword reading to typically developing peers.
A significant performance difference was found favoring word reading over nonword reading in both languages, larger in English than Maltese.
In English, reading skills were associated with visual perceptual skills and vocabulary, with weaker associations in Maltese.