Dyslexia and Syntactic Deficits: Overview and a Case Study of Language Training of Relative Clauses

This chapter contributes to the discussion of syntactic deficits in individuals with dyslexia, which appear to be similar to those observed in individuals with specific language impairments (SLI), or developmental language disorders. Syntactic deficits are often not detected by standardized tests used in clinical settings. Catts et al. (2005: 1380) point out that oral language difficulties ‘were typically not severe enough for children to have been identified as having SLI (Scarborough & Dobrich, 1990). This has also been the case for other studies that have documented oral language problems in children with a family risk for dyslexia (e.g. Gallagher et al., 2000)’. This raises the issue of language assessment in individuals with dyslexia and the need to develop specific language tests to detect difficulties in vulnerable areas of grammar.