*1.5. Summary and Research Questions*

The occurrence of reading skills in children with Down syndrome across the early school years from the time when formal teaching starts remains unknown. Thus, few studies have provided guidelines on appropriate expectations with regard to reading outcomes and approaches to teaching reading to children with Down syndrome. In all of the abovementioned studies on occurrence, the majority of subjects varied widely in age and were recruited post-reading onset. Thus, the occurrence of reading skills in young children with Down syndrome internationally may not be as high as suggested in the previous literature. If this is the case, it is important to know, as it may influence, e.g., parents' views on their children's development and teachers' expectations.

Furthermore, knowledge of what differentiates those with early decoding skills from those without these skills is limited because the low number of participants in previous longitudinal studies has limited the number of predictive variables included in the analysis.

Therefore, in the present study, we ask the following research questions: (1) What is the occurrence of reading skills in a national age cohort of Norwegian children with Down syndrome in grades 1, 2 and 3 (ages 6–8), and (2) what distinguishes the cognitive profiles of readers and non-readers prior to reading onset? The present study focuses on an age cohort to provide more specific information about occurrence in relation to age to better inform expectations, and it also includes a measure of parental report alongside a standardized measure to draw comparisons between outcomes for these respective measures.
