Representational and Syntactic Competence of Problem Readers.

DENNER, BRUCE. Representational and Syntactic Competence of Problem Readers. CHILD DEVELOPMENT, 1970, 41, 881-887. The hypothesis that problem readers lack representational and syntactic competence was studied by administering a test (previously given to normal and brain-damaged children ages 4-12) to these groups: first-grade problem readers, firstgrade average readers, thirdto fifth-grade problem readers, and Head Start preschoolers. Problem readers and Head Start children were as competent as average readers in associating nonrepresentational linear forms with words. But they were significantly less competent in synthesizing whole sentences from individual linear forms. The findings were interpreted in light of the distinction between oral and written language.