Kelic, M. , Zelenika, M. & Kuvac Kraljevic, J.
University of Zagreb, Faculty of Education and Rehabilitation Sciences. Department of Speech and Language Pathology, Laboratory for Psycholinguistic Research - POLIN
It is well known that language abilities are good predictors of reading development. In this study we examined group of children with language impairment in order to investigate how reading measures are related with two constructs which are considered to be one of the best predictors of dyslexia: phonological awareness and verbal working memory. Since in Croatian there are no standardized measures of reading assesment, phonological awareness and verbal working memory the goal of this study was to develop tasks tapping these constructs. We evaluated developed batteries on a sample of children with language impairment (N=10, mean age: 10;06). The results showed that phonological awareness tasks are separately linked to working memory and reading measures (reading time for words). Pseudoword repetition and syllable repetition considered to tap phonological loop, showed to be two separated constructs. Reading time and accuracy (words and pseudowords) were negatively correlated to pseudoword repetition. Syllable repetition, but not pseudoword repetition, was correlated to number repetition (WISC-IV). Pseudoword repetition wasn?t correlated to any of the working memory measures indicating that pseudoword repetition isn?t merely working memory measure, rather measure of sublexical phonological processing which envelopes broad span of phonological features (e.g. syllable structure, phonotactical probabilities).