The comparative examination of the early symptoms of learning disability in children with typical development and developmental language disorder

Problems in one or more components of the language can be seen in developmental language disorders. It is known that language-related problems form a basis for learning and its symptoms can be seen starting from the pre-school period. In this study, the early symptoms of learning disability in children aged 4-6 years with developmental language disorder and typical development in the preschool period were examined comparatively. The study included 40 children with typical development and 40 children with developmental language disorder. Turkish version of Test of Early Language Development Third Edition and the Learning Disability Early Symptoms Screening Scale were administered to the participants. With the scale, participants were screened for early signs of learning disability related to language development and communication skills, cognitive skills, psychomotor skills and social emotional skills, based on the parent report. According to the findings, children with developmental language disorders scored significantly higher than their peers with typical development in all sub-areas (t(78)= 16.24, p< .001). Children with developmental language disorders were found to be at a significantly higher risk group than their typically developing peers for learning disabilities (χ² = 69.89, p<.001). The relationship between the risk of learning disability and the gender factor was also examined, and no significant relationship was found in terms of gender and risk of learning disability in children with developmental language disorders (t(38)= 0.97, p>.05). There was no significant difference in terms of gender and risk of learning disability in children with typical development (t(38)= 0.05, p> .05). The results obtained in the study are in line with the related studies in the literature.