The literacy abilities of 11-year old children with specific language impairment
(SLI) were investigated through comparing subgroups with current expressive-only
language impairment (E-SLI, n 30), current combined expressive and receptive
language impairment (ER-SLI, n 32) and a history of now-resolved language impairment
(Resolved-SLI, n 28). The ER-SLI subgroup performed less well than the E-SLI
subgroup on measures of single word reading and reading comprehension and in turn
the E-SLI subgroup performed less well than the Resolved-SLI subgroup. Further
analysis of individual variation within subgroups revealed that all three subgroups
had a considerable proportion of individuals with literacy difficulties. In
addition, direct comparisons of E-SLI versus ER-SLI subgroups revealed the ER-SLI
subgroup to have a significantly larger proportion of children with severe literacy
difficulties than the E-SLI subgroup. In contrast, the Resolved-SLI subgroup had
virtually no children with severe literacy difficulties. The implications of these
findings for practice are discussed.
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