Spoken language proficiency predicts print-speech convergence in beginning readers.

ABSTRACT: Learning to read transforms the brain, building on children's existing capacities for language and visuospatial processing. In particular, the development of print-speech convergence, or the spatial overlap of neural regions necessary for both auditory and visual language processing, is critical for literacy acquisition. Print-speech convergence is a universal signature of proficient reading, yet the antecedents of this convergence remain unknown. Here we examine the relationship between spoken language proficiency and the emergence of the print-speech network in beginning readers (ages 5-6). Results demonstrate that children's language proficiency, but not their early literacy skill, explains variance in their print-speech neural convergence in kindergarten. Furthermore, print-speech conv

SUBMITTER: Marks RA 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6765418 | biostudies-literature | 2019 Nov

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature