Abstract
This paper presents a review of currentknowledge concerning the reading skills ofchildren and adults with Williams syndrome. The paper begins by highlighting themethodological issues surrounding research onreading in atypical populations and discussesthe issue of comparison groups. It proceeds toreview evidence from studies that havedescribed the reading profile observed inWilliams syndrome in relation to the documentedcognitive and linguistic profile, andspecifically examines the relationship betweenreading and phonological skills. The paperadvocates a more dynamic developmental approachto the study of reading in atypical populations.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Arnold, R., Yule, W. & Martin, N. (1985). The psychological characteristics of infantile hypercalcaemia: A preliminary investigation, Developmental Medicine and Child Neurology 27: 49-59.
Barisnikov, K., Van der Linden, M. & Poncelet, M.(1996). Acquisition of new words and phonological working memory in Williams syndrome: A case study, Neurocase 2: 395-404.
Bellugi, U., Bihrle, A., Neville, H., Jernigan, T.L. & Doherty, S. (1993). Language, cognition and brain organisation in a neurodevelopmental disorder. In: M. Gunmar & C. Nelson (eds.), Developmental behavioural neurosciences (Minnesota Symposium). Hillsdale, New Jersey: Erlbaum.
Bryant, P.E. & Bradley, L. (1985). Children's reading problems. Oxford: Blackwell.
Bryant, P.E. & Impey, L. (1986). The similarities between normal readers and developmental and acquired dyslexics, Cognition 7: 333-338.
Cardoso-Martins, C. & Frith, U. (1997). Phonological awareness and reading ability in Down Syndrome. Poster presented at the 4th International Conference of the British Dyslexia Association, York and at the 2nd International Conference on Language and Cognitive Development in Down Syndrome, Portsmouth.
Cossu, G. & Marshall, J.C. (1990). Are cognitive skills a prerequisite for learning to read and write?, Cognitive Neuropsychology 7: 21-40.
Cossu, G., Rossini, F. & Marshall, J.C. (1993). When reading is acquired but phonemic awareness is not: A study of literacy in Down's syndrome, Cognition 46: 129-137.
Ehri, L.C. & Wilce, L.S. (1985). Movement into reading: Is the first stage of printed word learning visual or phonetic?, Reading Research Quarterly 18: 47-65.
Elliot, C.D., Smith, P. & McCulloch, K. (1996). British ability scales. Windsor: NFER-Nelson.
Ewart, A.K., Morris, C.A., Atkinson, D., Jin, W., Sternes, K., Spallone, P., Dean Stock, A., Leppert, M. & Keating, M.T. (1993). Hemizygosity at the elastin locus in a developmental disorder, Williams syndrome, Nature Genetics 5: 11-16.
Fowler, A. (1991). How early phonological development might set the stage for phoneme awareness. In: S. Brady & D. Shankweiler (eds.), Phonological processes in literacy: A tribute to I.Y. Liberman (pp. 97-117). Hilsdale, New Jersey: Erlbaum.
Frangiskakis, J.M., Ewart, A.K., Morris, C.A., Mervis, C.B., Bertrand, J., Robinson, B.F., Klein, B.P., Ensing, G.J., Everett, L.A., Green, E.D., Proschel, C., Gutowski, N.J., Noble, M., Atkinson, D.L., Odelberg, S.J. & Keating, M.T. (1996). LIM-Kinase 1 hemizygosity implicated in impaired visuospatial constructive cognition, Cell 86: 56-69.
Frederickson, F., Frith, U. & Reason, R. (1997). The Phonological Abilities Battery. London: NFER-Nelson.
Galaburda, A.M., Wang, P.P. Bellugi, U. & Rossen, M. (1994). Cytoarchitectonic anomalies in a genetically based disorder: Williams syndrome, Neuroreport 5: 753-757.
Gathercole, S.E., Willis, C., Baddeley, A.D. & Emslie, H. (1994). The children's test of nonword repetition: A test of phonological working memory, Memory 2: 103-127.
Gombert, J.E. (1992). Metalinguistic development. Hemel Hempsted, UK: Harvester Wheatsheaf.
Gough, P.B. & Tunmer, W.E. (1986). Decoding, reading and reading disability, Remedial and Special Education 7: 6-10.
Grant, J., Karmiloff-Smith, A., Gathercole, S., Paterson, S., Howlin, P., Davies, M. & Udwin, O. (1997). Phonological short-term memory and its relationship to language in Williams syndrome, Cognitive Neuropsychiatry 2(2): 81-99.
Greenberg, E. (1990). Introduction to special issue on Williams syndrome, American Journal of Medical Genetics Supplement 6: 85-88.
Hatcher, P.J., Hulme, C. & Ellis, A.W. (1994). Ameliorating early reading failure by integrating the teaching of reading and phonological skills: The phonological linkage hypothesis, Child Development 65: 41-57.
Howlin, P., Davies, M. & Udwin, O. (1998). Cognitive functioning in adults with Williams syndrome, Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry 39(2): 183-189.
Hulme, C. & Snowling, M. (1992). Deficits in output phonology: An explanation of reading failure?, Cognitive Neuropsychology 9: 47-72.
Jernigan, T.L., Bellugi, U., Sowell, E., Doherty, S. & Hesselink, J.R. (1993). Cerebral morphologic distinctions between Williams and Downs syndromes, Arch Neuro 50: 186-191.
Karmiloff-Smith, A. (1998). Development itself is the key to understanding developmental disorders, Trends in Cognitive Sciences 2: 389-398.
Karmiloff-Smith, A., Grant, J., Berthoud, I., Davis, M., Howlin, P. & Udwin, O. (1997). Language and Williams syndrome: How intact is 'intact'?, Child Development 68(2): 246-262.
Laing, E. & Hulme, C. (1999). Phonological and semantic processes influence beginning readers' ability to learn to read words, Journal of Experimental Child Psychology 73: 183-207.
Laing, E., Hulme, C., Grant, J. & Karmiloff-Smith, A. (2001). Learning to read in Williams syndrome: Looking beneath the surface of atypical reading development, Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry 42(6): 729-741.
Levine, K. (1993). Cognitive profiles in Williams syndrome. Unpublished manuscript, Boston Children's Hospital.
Majerus, S., Palmasano, I., Van der Linden, M., Barisnikov, K. & Poncelet, M. (2001). An investigation of phonological processing in Williams syndrome, Journal of the International Society 7: 153.
Mercer, R. (1997). Phonological skills and learning to read: Evidence from children with Down Syndrome. Unpublished MPhil Manuscript, University of York, UK.
Mervis, C.B. & Bertrand, J. (1997). Developmental relations between cognition and language: Evidence from Williams syndrome. In: L.B. Adamson & M.A. Romski (eds.), Research on communication and language disorders: Contributions to theories of language development (pp. 75-106). New York: Brookes.
Muter, V., Hulme, C. & Snowling, M.J. (1997). Phonological abilities test. London: Psychological Corporation.
Neale, M.D. (1989). The Neale analysis of reading ability-revised. Windsor, UK: NFER.
Pagon, R., Bennett, M., LaVeck, B., Stewart, K., & Johnson, J. (1987). Williams Syndrome: Features in late childhood and adolescence, Pediatrics 80(1): 85-91.
Rae, C., Karmiloff-Smith, A., Lee, M.A., Dixon, R.M., Grant, J., Blamire, A.M., Thompson, C.H., Styles, P. & Radda, G.K. (1998). Brain biochemistry in Williams syndrome, Neurology 51: 33-40.
Rack, J., Hulme, C. & Snowling, M.J. (1993). Learning to read: A theoretical synthesis. In: H. Reese (ed.), Advances in child development and behaviour, Vol. 24 (pp. 100-128). San Diego: Academic Press.
Rack, J.P., Hulme, C., Snowling, M.J. & Wightman, J. (1994). The role of phonology in young children learning to read words: The direct mapping hypothesis, Journal of Experimental Child Psychology 57: 42-71.
Reilly, J.S., Klima, E.S. & Bellugi, U. (1990). Once more with feeling: affect and language in atypical populations, Development and Psychopathology 2(4): 367-391.
Rossen, M., Bihrle, A., Klima, E.S., Bellugi, U. & Jones, W. (1996). Interaction between language and cognition: Evidence from Williams syndrome. In: J.H. Beitchmen, N. Cohen, M. Konstantareas & R. Tannock (eds.), Language learning and behaviour. New York: Cambridge University Press.
Rust, J., Golombok, S. & Trickey, G. (1992). The Wechsler objective reading dimensions. London: The Psychological Corporation.
Snowling, M.J. (1983). The comparison of acquired and developmental disorders of reading, Cognition 14: 105-118.
Snowling, M.J., Stothard, S.E. & McLean, J. (1996). The Graded Nonword reading test. Bury St Edmunds: Thames Valley Test Publishers.
Stevens, T. & Karmiloff-Smith, A. (1997). Word learning in a special population: Do individuals with Williams syndrome obey lexical constraints?, Journal of Child Language 24: 737-765.
Swan, D. & Goswami, U. (1997). Phonological awareness deficits in developmental dyslexia, Journal of Research in Reading 11: 67-85.
Tassabehji, M., Metcalfe K., Fergusson, W.D., Carette, M.J.A., Dore, J.K., Donnai D., Read, A.P., Proschel, C., Gutowski, N.J., Mao, X. & Sheer, D. (1996). LIM-kinase deleted in Williams syndrome, Nature Genetics 13: 272-273.
Temple, C., Almazan, M. & Sherwood, S. (2002). Lexical skills in Williams syndrome: A cognitive neuropsychological analysis, Journal of Neurolinguistics 15(6): 433-495.
Thomas, M.S.C., Grant, J., Gsodl, M., Laing, E., Barham, Z., Lakusta, L., Tyler, L.K., Grice, S., Paterson, S. & Karmiloff-Smith, A. (2001). Past tense formation inWilliams syndrome, Language and Cognitive Processes 16(2-3): 143-176.
Udwin, O., Davies, M. & Howlin, P. (1996). A longitudinal study of cognitive abilities and educational attainment in Williams syndrome, Developmental Medicine and Child Neurology 38: 1020-1029.
Vernon, P.E. (1977). Graded word spelling test manual. London: Hodder and Stoughton.
Vicari, S., Carlesimo, G., Brizzolara & Pezzini, G. (1996). Short-term memory in children with Williams syndrome: A reduced contribution of lexical-semantic knowledge to word span, Neuropsychologia 34: 919-925.
Volterra, V., Capirci, O., Pezzini, G., Sabbadini, L. & Vicari, S. (1996). Linguistic abilities in Italian children with Williams syndrome, Cortex 32: 663-677.
Wagner, R.K. & Torgeson, J.K. (1987). The nature of phonological processing and its causal role in the acquisition of reading skills, Psychological Bulletin 101: 192-212.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Laing, E. Investigating reading development in atypical populations: The case of Williams syndrome. Reading and Writing 15, 575–587 (2002). https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1016344519890
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1016344519890