**4. Discussion**

This longitudinal study aimed to investigate the occurrence of reading skills in a Norwegian age cohort of children with Down syndrome at 1st (T1), 2nd (T2) and 3rd (T3) grade and to provide insight into early abilities, as these abilities may differ between children who do and do not develop early reading skills during this period. In particular, we were interested in which abilities are strengths in early readers prior to their reading onset. The data showed that the occurrence of reading skills was low but increased over the years. Vocabulary and letter knowledge were stronger in readers than in non-readers prior to their reading onset.
