Abstract
The purpose of this study was to investigate the hypothesis that the manner in which a reading disability is defined will influence the conclusions that are made about the characteristics of the disability. To test this hypothesis, learning disabled and normally achieving children, aged 6 to 14, were administered tasks measuring grammatical, shortterm memory, phonological, reading, and visual-spatial skills. The poor readers were divided into groups of poor readers with
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inadequate phonics skills,
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inadequate word recognition skills,
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adequate word recognition skills but low reading comprehension scores, and
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adequate word recognition scores but a slow reading speed.
These children were compared with children who had normal reading scores. Children with deficits in phonics and/or word recognition scored significantly below normal on all the cognitive tests, except some of the visual-spatial tasks. Reading comprehension difficulties were characterized by average phonics, word recognition, and language skills but below average scores on some memory tasks. Slow readers had cognitive profiles similar to the normal children. The presence of a deficit in phonics and/or word recognition constituted the basis of the most serious impairment of language and memory functioning. Reading disabled children, defined in this manner, appear to be reasonably homogeneous in regard to the presence of language and memory problem. There does not appear to be evidence for a distinctive non-language impaired subtype within this type of reading disability. Children with low comprehension scores and/or slow readers did not have language problems. The definition of a reading disability appears to determine the subtypes and characteristics of reading disability that will emerge.
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Requests for reprints should be addressed to the first author at the Department of Special Education, Ontario Institute for Studies in Education, 252 Bloor Street West, Toronto, Ontario, Canada M5S 1V6. This research was supported by a grant to the first author from the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada. The authors wish to thank Rita Baumgarten, Andrea Blore, Lisa Duval, Jacqueline Milne, and Barbara Szechtman for their help with the data collection and analyses, and Letty Guirnela for secretarial assistance. The authors also wish to thank Mr. J. Grosso of the Hamilton-Wentworth Roman Catholic Separate School Board. Mr. J. Hughes of Regina Mundi School, Mr. C. D'Arcy of St. Jerome's School, Mr. M. B. Wansbrough, Miss M. Robertson, and Mrs. J. Parry of Hillfield-Strathallan College, and the teachers, children, and parents for their gracious cooperation with the study.
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Siegel, L.S., Ryan, E.B. Subtypes of developmental dyslexia: The influence of definitional variables. Read Writ 1, 257–287 (1989). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00377646
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00377646