Children with Down syndrome use phonological knowledge in reading

Contrary to the findings of Cossu, Rossini &Marshall [(1993a), Cognition 46: 129–138], the present experiment showed a clear link between phonological awareness and reading performance in children with Down syndrome. Although metaphonologicalperformance was lower in children with Downsyndrome than in normal controls of the samereading level, phonological awareness andreading were significantly correlated in bothgroups. However, children with Down syndromeremained deficient in skills such as rhymingwhich are not practised as a result ofliteracy. These results are discussed withinthe framework of Gombert's metalinguisticdevelopment theory where, on the basis of aninitial phonological sensitivity, alphabeticreading is a pacemaker for the development ofexplicit phonological awareness.