PURPOSE: This study examined the reading achievement growth of children with language impairments (LI) across the school grades. The authors sought to determine whether children with LI demonstrate a delayed, deficit, or cumulative pattern of reading achievement growth when compared with children with typical language (TL). METHOD: A group of 225 children with LI and a group of 379 children with TL were identified in kindergarten and were administered multiple measures of word recognition and reading comprehension in 2nd, 4th, 8th, and 10th grades. RESULTS: Confirmatory factor analyses indicated that the constructs of word recognition and reading comprehension were invariant across grades and groups of children with LI and TL. Further analyses indicated that a multiple group latent growth curve analysis was appropriate. This analysis showed that children with LI differed significantly from children with TL in initial level (2nd grade) of word recognition and reading comprehension, but they did not differ significantly in the shape of their growth trajectories. CONCLUSION: These results are consistent with a deficit model of reading growth in children with LI. Findings are discussed in terms of implications for early identification.
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