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Sentence comprehension limitations related to syntactic deficits in reading-disabled children

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  28 November 2008

Cecile L. Stein ,
Helen S. Cairns  and
Edgar B. Zurif
Cecile L. Stein*
Affiliation:
Graduate School and University Center of the City University of New York
Helen S. Cairns
Affiliation:
Queens College, and Graduate School and University Center of the City University of New York
Edgar B. Zurif
Affiliation:
Graduate School and University Center of the City University of New York
*
Cecile L. Stein, 140 East Hartsdale Avenue, Hartsdale, New York 10530
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Abstract

Twenty reading-disabled children, ages 7 through 10, were compared with 20 nondisabled readers of the same age range according to their ability to interpret complex sentences. Using a relatively new metric, subjects were classified according to Grammar Type and the extent to which they obeyed the c-command constraint on control in interpreting sentences containing embedded complements with missing subjects. The results demonstrated that the nondisabled readers performed at higher levels of grammatical development than did the reading-impaired subjects; there was no effect for age. Implications are made regarding the structural nature of the syntactic deficit in the reading-disabled population studied.

Type
Articles
Information
Applied Psycholinguistics , Volume 5 , Issue 4 , December 1984 , pp. 305 - 322
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1984

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