Kindergarten dichotic listening as a predictor of first-grade reading achievement

In this study we examined the contribution of reading acquisition to changes in dichotic listening test performance by young children between kindergarten and the end of grade 1. We found that longitudinal changes in the performance level of both dichotic tests used in this study (a digits test and a words test) did not correlate with school achievement in reading. On the other hand, kindergarten performance in the words dichotic test was a reliable predictor of failure in reading acquisition a year later. Moreover, most subjects who experienced difficulties in learning to read and in the words dichotic test also failed in a kindergarten test requiring the matching of syllable combinations with arbitrary letter-like symbols. It was thus hypothesized that both kindergarten tests were good predictors of reading difficulties owing to the implicit task of serial handling of simultaneously activated syllables.