ABSTRACT
It is now well established that reading skills build on a foundation in spoken language processing. However, the precise relationships between oral language and written language skills are still not fully understood. Although it is well known that children with oral language impairments are at high risk for literacy problems, the cognitive mechanisms that account for this risk remain debated. This chapter reviews research that highlights the different developmental trajectories of literacy development among children with oral language difficulties, and it discusses the predictors of individual differences in reading outcomes. It draws on a theoretical framework derived from connectionist models of reading. Such models of reading offer accounts of how learning proceeds and of individual differences in reading development (Plaut, 1997). It follows that connectionist models can be used to consider the role of different language skills in learning to read as well as compensatory processes that might be implicated in cases of developmental disorder (e.g., Snowling, Gallagher, & Frith, 2003).
