The role of speech pathologists in the early identification of children with language problems which could lead to interventions which might prevent or ameliorate
subsequent reading problems was noted, and the LDA submission put the view that more routine collaboration between speech pathologists and educators could improve literacy outcomes for all students.
Results indicated that: (1) individual differences in decoding ability have little effect on children's
reading comprehension, and vice versa; (2) early language understanding predicts
reading comprehension; (3) emerging knowledge about
reading predicts
subsequent decoding ability; (4) children's early interest in and involvement in literacy predicts gains in
reading and (5) home
problems had a negative prediction on
reading.