Early literacy profiles and written language outcomes in children with and without language disorder

Abstract Children with Language Disorders (LD) are at elevated risk for Written Language Difficulties (WLD), including deficits in word recognition, fluency, spelling, and reading comprehension. However, this population is highly heterogeneous, and early identification of children at risk for WLD requires approaches that capture individual variability. Despite growing interest in early literacy profiling in children with LD, few studies include longitudinal data or a control group, limiting the generalizability of findings and the examination of how early profiles relate to later written language outcomes. This longitudinal study examined early literacy profiles in children with and without LD and assessed their associations with Grade 2 written language skills. Early literacy was assessed in 87 French-speaking children midway through kindergarten, before formal literacy instruction. Measures included receptive and expressive language abilities, code‑related skills (letter knowledge, phonological awareness, rapid automatized naming, verbal short-term memory, working memory), phonemic discrimination, and nonverbal abilities, and family/environmental background (parental questionnaire). LD status was determined through the standard clinical diagnostic procedure in France, involving a comprehensive speech-language assessment and detailed parental report; 30 children were identified with LD and 57 served as controls; controls showed age-appropriate language abilities. Written language outcomes—word recognition, reading fluency, spelling, and reading comprehension—were assessed two years later, at mid-Grade 2. Group comparisons showed that children with LD scored significantly lower than controls across early literacy domains and later written language skills. K ‑means clustering identified three early literacy profiles: High Early Literacy (controls only), Below-Average Early Literacy with Average Letter Knowledge (mixed LD and controls), and Low Early Literacy (predominantly children with relatively severe LD). These profiles showed distinct longitudinal associations with Grade 2 written language outcomes: high and low profiles displayed stable performance, whereas the intermediate profile showed greater variability. Findings highlight the importance of early literacy skills for understanding later written language outcomes and demonstrate the potential of cluster-based profiling for early identification of children at risk for WLD, regardless of LD status. Results further support integrating joint assessments of oral language and code‑related precursors into routine kindergarten screening to strengthen early identification and guide profile-aligned intervention.