Differences in oral language growth between children with and without literacy difficulties: evidence from early phases of learning to read and spell in Greek

The present study examined oral language growth differences in a sample of 256 Greek-speaking children with and without literacy difficulties (LD), during the first two elementary grades. Measures of vocabulary, phonological awareness (PA), morphological awareness (MA), and rapid automatized naming (RAN) were administered in both grades for the assessment of oral language growth. Reading skills were individually assessed in grade 1 and together with spelling in grade 2. Results showed that PA, MA, and RAN growth differed between children with and without LD. Furthermore, children with spelling difficulties, either single or mixed with reading difficulties, presented a slower MA growth rate than children with single reading difficulties. These findings are informative of the early prognosis and intervention of LD.