本研究旨在追蹤5歲時被鑑定為特定型語言障礙的兒童,在進入學一年級時的語言與閱讀表現。研究參與對象為21名特定型語言障礙兒童,及21名同年齡、同性別、同社經地位配對之一般兒童。這些兒童在進入小學第一學期完成10週注音符號課程之後,接受注音符號能力測驗之施測;並於第二學期期末時接受兒童口語理解測驗、識字流暢性、自編形聲字測驗之施測,以及故事重述敘事語料之蒐集。本研究發現:(1)學前被鑑定為特定型語言障礙的兒童,在小一時(約為二年後)仍有高達57%者的語言表現同樣是符合低於平均數-1.25個標準差或是在百分等級10以下的特定型語言障礙鑑定標準,而剩下未達特定型語言障礙鑑定標準的兒童的語言表現也不盡理想,與常模相較都是位於百分等級20左右;(2)特定型語言障礙兒童的口語理解與表達能力都顯著落後於控制組的一般兒童;(3)相較於一般兒童,特定型語言障礙兒童的注音符號能力、識字能力皆有較大問題。本研究結果支持國外長期追蹤研究的發現,顯示對於特定型語言障礙兒童來說,發展語言常是他們一生持續需要面對的困難。此外,他們在小學開始接受正式讀寫教育時,也出現顯著之識字與閱讀之問題。
The aim of this study was to investigate the language and reading outcomes of first graders with and without a history of specific language impairments. Twenty one children diagnosed as SLI at age 5 and 21 control children with normal language development participated in this longitudinal study. Participants' oral language comprehension, oral narratives, and reading abilities were measured. The results indicated that (1)The SLI group performed significantly worse than the normal language development group in oral language comprehension test and oral narratives analyses in terms of story structure; (2) 57% of SLI children identified at age 5 still fitted into SLI diagnosis criteria at age 7; (3)The SLI group performed significantly worse than the normal group in Chinese phonetic symbol task, Word fluency task, and phonogram task, which indicated that a higher risk for reading disabilities for children with SLI. Therefore, the results provide support for the assumption that preschool language impairments represent significant risk factors for future advanced language and literacy development.