Which risk factor increases the likelihood that a child with SSD will have reading difficulties?

Which risk factor increases the likelihood that a child with SSD will have reading difficulties?

• A. Mental health issues
• B. Stuttering
• C. Language disorder
• D. Clumsiness

Answer: (C)

Reading development relies on strong language and phonological skills that let a child hear, manipulate, and map sounds to letters. When a child has a speech sound disorder, they’re already dealing with differences in how they perceive and produce sounds. If a language disorder accompanies that, the broader linguistic system—vocabulary, grammar, and phonological representations—tends to be weaker. That combination undermines key reading foundations like phonological awareness (the ability to blend and segment sounds), decoding, and word recognition, making reading difficulties much more likely. Other factors mentioned don’t align as directly with the reading risks tied to a speech-focused profile. Mental health issues can affect learning in general but aren’t specific predictors of reading problems rooted in speech and language processing. Stuttering concerns fluency rather than the phonological and linguistic processing needed for reading. Clumsiness doesn’t target literacy skills. So, the presence of a language disorder best explains the increased likelihood of reading difficulties in a child with SSD.

Reading development relies on strong language and phonological skills that let a child hear, manipulate, and map sounds to letters. When a child has a speech sound disorder, they’re already dealing with differences in how they perceive and produce sounds. If a language disorder accompanies that, the broader linguistic system—vocabulary, grammar, and phonological representations—tends to be weaker. That combination undermines key reading foundations like phonological awareness (the ability to blend and segment sounds), decoding, and word recognition, making reading difficulties much more likely.

Other factors mentioned don’t align as directly with the reading risks tied to a speech-focused profile. Mental health issues can affect learning in general but aren’t specific predictors of reading problems rooted in speech and language processing. Stuttering concerns fluency rather than the phonological and linguistic processing needed for reading. Clumsiness doesn’t target literacy skills. So, the presence of a language disorder best explains the increased likelihood of reading difficulties in a child with SSD.