Reading and Listening Comprehension in Individuals With Down Syndrome and Word Reading-Matched Typically Developing Children

Research Note: Testing the Simple View of Reading in Adolescents and Adults With Down Syndrome

PURPOSE

The Simple View of Reading is a well-supported framework in typical development that proposes that reading comprehension is predicted by word identification and language comprehension abilities. Although there has been some research examining relations between reading comprehension, word identification, and language comprehension, there has been little research directly testing the Simple View in individuals with Down syndrome, a population that often has difficulties with reading comprehension. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to test the Simple View model in English-speaking readers with Down syndrome and examine the contributions of word identification and language comprehension abilities to their reading comprehension success.

METHOD

Twenty-one adolescent and adult readers with Down syndrome (16-36 years of age) completed standardized reading, language, and IQ assessments.

RESULTS

Multiple regression assessed the contribution of word identification/phonological decoding and language comprehension skills to reading comprehension outcomes. The full model explained 59% of the variance in reading comprehension. However, language comprehension emerged as the only significant unique predictor, explaining 29% of that variance. Together then, word identification and language comprehension explained approximately 30% of the variance in reading comprehension.

CONCLUSIONS

The pattern of results suggests that language comprehension is particularly important to reading comprehension success for individuals with Down syndrome, at least those who can already identify printed words. To support reading comprehension development for individuals with Down syndrome, practitioners, educators, and parents should support language comprehension processes.

A pilot study assessing listening comprehension and reading comprehension in children with down syndrome: Construct validity from a multi-method perspective

Obtaining valid assessments of language and literacy skills in children with Down syndrome (DS) presents a challenge as there is a paucity of information about the psychometrics of measures that are commonly used to measure listening and reading comprehension in this population. Evaluating the construct validity of measures that employ different methods is essential to ascertain the optimal method of assessment in individuals with DS and with typical developmental histories (TD). This pilot study aimed to evaluate the construct validity of four parallel measures of listening and reading comprehension. Participants included 19 individuals with DS (M = 17 years, 3 months; SD = 3 years, 6 months) and 19 word-level reading-matched children with TD (M = 7 years, 2 months; SD = 7 months). Participants completed norm-referenced assessments for four parallel measures of listening and reading comprehension. The four measurement methods were: (1) non-verbal response, (2) cloze procedure, (3) passage-level with close-ended questions, and (4) passage-level with open-ended questions. Participants completed additional assessments (e.g., cognition, language, and speech) for descriptive purposes. Construct validity was assessed using the Multitrait-Multimethod Matrix, a correlation matrix arranged to facilitate the assessment and interpretation of construct validity of measures across various formats. For both study groups, we observed strong evidence of construct validity for three out of four measurement methods. Results using the multimethod perspective also indicated that the listening and reading comprehension constructs were not separable. The findings from this pilot study represent a first step toward determining optimal methods of listening and reading comprehension assessment for individuals with DS. Additionally, these results can inform outcome measure selection in future language and literacy research with children with DS.