In a study at York University, 50 children who had a dyslexic parent were monitored at the ages of three, six, eight and 13 years old.
At age three, the children were found to be significantly weaker than those in a control group in vocabulary development, expressive language and grammar. By age six, half the children in the at-risk group were falling behind in their literacy development.
Dyslexia featured in another study last month at Hull university, which found that half of children who fail their SATs tests at primary school show signs of dyslexia or learning difficulties (News, 20 March).
The York University research, carried out by Professor Maggie Snowling and Dr Valerie Muter and presented at the annual conference of the British Dyslexia Association last week, recommended that children who start school having poor oral language skills should be given extra help to improve.
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