Affiliations: Centro Riabilitativo "Il paese di Oz", ANFFAS,
Trento, Italy | Department of Sociology and Social Research,
University of Trento, Italy | Department of Economics, University of Trento,
Italy | Unità di Neuropsichiatria Infantile, Ospedale
Santa Croce & Carle, Cuneo, Italy
Note: [] Correspondence: Dr. Stefano Calzolari, M.D., S.C. di
Neuropsichiatria Infantile, Ospedale Carle, Via A. Carle 5, 12100, Cuneo,
Italy. Tel.: +39 0171616762; Fax: +39 0171616761; E-mail: calzolari.s@ospedale.cuneo.it
Abstract: Children with Down syndrome (DS) are known to have difficulty in
learning to read and write. This weak literacy can be attributed to learning
disability or to poor phonological awareness, which can also be found in
typically developing children with dyslexia. The aim of this study is to verify
whether phonological awareness is linked to literacy in children with DS as it
is in typically developing ones. In order to show this link the authors
investigate the relationship between single word reading ability and several
phonological variables. Thirty-two native Italian children with DS were asked
to read 50 single words and to perform phonological tests concerning phoneme
and syllable segmentation, phoneme and syllable blending, alliteration and
non-word repetition. Gender, intelligence quotient, age and years of schooling
were also taken into consideration in the statistical analysis. Phoneme
blending, phoneme segmentation, syllable segmentation, alliteration, non-word
repetition were the variables which were seen to be significantly related to
reading. However, it was observed that gender, intelligence quotient,
chronological age, years of education, syllable blending were not related to
single word reading ability. Our study underpins the theory that literacy is
linked to phonological awareness in Italian speaking children with DS in the
same way that it occurs in typically developing children. Phonemic rather than
syllabic awareness is seen to be the basic skill necessary in order to be able
to read fluently, at least for single words, as observed in our participants with DS.
Keywords: Down syndrome, reading, learning disabilities, phonology, dyslexia
