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

The purpose of this study was to explore the reading comprehension and listening comprehension performance of English-speaking children with Down syndrome (DS) compared with word reading-matched typically developing (TD) children. Participants included 19 individuals with DS ( Independent-samples The DS group, despite being matched on word reading to the TD group, demonstrated reduced reading comprehension skills as compared with the TD group. Thus, as individuals with DS acquire word reading skills, it appears that they are unable to translate word reading success to achieve reading comprehension at the expected level (i.e., as indexed by typical readers). The between-groups differences in listening comprehension suggest that deficits in listening comprehension likely are a barrier to reading comprehension proficiency for children with DS. Listening comprehension may be a malleable factor that can be targeted to improve reading comprehension outcomes for individuals with DS.