Examining complex academic language in children with dyslexia: a comparative analysis with curriculum standards

While approximately 50% of children with dyslexia are reported to have Developmental Language Disorder (DLD), there is a possibility that a larger proportion exhibit subclinical weaknesses in complex academic language that detrimentally impact reading comprehension. This study aimed to evaluate the comprehension and production of complex academic language among school-age students with dyslexia who do and do not have DLD across discourse, sentence, and vocabulary levels, comparing their performance against established curriculum standards. Narrative retell language samples were collected from 183 students with dyslexia with and without DLD spanning first to sixth grade. We used the Narrative Language Measures-Listening subtest from the CUBED-3 to assess discourse complexity, sentence complexity, and vocabulary complexity. The findings revealed significant language deficiencies across all grades. Specifically, the majority of students failed to meet benchmark expectations for the inclusion of discourse elements, 94% to 100% of students across grade levels lacked complex sentence structures, and 82% to 100% did not incorporate complex vocabulary as expected by curriculum standards. Notably, 100% of fourth and sixth graders who had dyslexia were found to be below the expected standards in narrative discourse, sentence, and vocabulary complexity. Results also indicated that there was no significant difference between the children with dyslexia who had DLD and those who did not on discourse complexity across most grades. Minimal differences in sentence complexity and vocabulary complexity were observed between the children with dyslexia who had DLD and those who did not. When examining the percent of students with dyslexia who did not have language disorder performing below benchmark expectations, results indicated that all students except for a few first graders were below benchmark. Conclusion The high incidence of language weaknesses observed suggests that beyond the commonly recognized challenges with dyslexia, these students often struggle significantly with language skills that are critical for academic success. Therefore, systematic oral language screening and targeted language interventions are crucial in supporting the broader educational needs of children with dyslexia.