Given the increase in students with learning disabilities entering university, we investigated a broader group--students with a history of reading difficulties (HRD)--who are known to be at risk of academic struggles. We identified the self-reported reading challenges and strategies of university students with HRD (n = 49) and those with no…

In this article, I systematically review evidence on the relations between oral reading fluency (ORF) and reading comprehension (RC) for adolescents with limited reading proficiency (ALRP) in Grades 6 to12. I organized findings from 23 studies into five themes: (a) unclear role of ORF in the simple view of reading model for ALRP, (b) ALRP have…

Reading comprehension tests vary in format and characteristics, which may influence the extent to which component skills are involved in test performance. With students in Grades 6 to 8 with reading difficulties, dominance analyses examined the differential importance of component reading and language skills (word- and text-reading fluency,…

The goal of improving reading rate and fluency is to positively impact reading comprehension; however, it is unclear how fast students with learning disabilities (LD) need to read to reap this benefit. The purpose of this research was to identify the point of diminishing return for students who were dysfluent readers. Participants included 337…

Tools for assessing decoding skill in students attending elementary grades are of fundamental importance for guaranteeing an early identification of reading disabled students and reducing both the primary negative effects (on learning) and the secondary negative effects (on the development of the personality) of this disability. This article…

The longitudinal prediction of reading problems from fourth grade to sixth grade was investigated with a sample of 173 students. Reading problems at the end of sixth grade were defined by significantly below average performance (= 15th percentile) on reading factors defining word reading, fluency, and reading comprehension. Sixth grade poor reader…

The purpose of this study was to evaluate rapid automatized naming skills (RAN) and immediate memory processes in 243 Chinese Mandarin-speaking elementary readers (ranging from Grade 1 to Grade 5). For RAN subtests, the mean naming time decreased monotonically with grade level in good and average readers, and a similar trajectory was found in poor…

The double-deficit hypothesis acknowledges both phonological processing deficits and serial naming speed deficits as two dimensions associated with reading disabilities. The purpose of this study was to examine these two dimensions of reading as they were related to the reading skills of 29 Spanish average readers and poor readers (mean age 9…

Breznitz (2006) demonstrated that Hebrew-speaking adults with reading disabilities benefited from a training in which reading rate was experimentally manipulated. In the present study, the authors examine whether silent reading training enhances the sentence reading rate and comprehension of children with reading disabilities and whether results…

The present study investigated the persistent nature of naming speed deficits within the context of the double-deficit hypothesis in a university sample of adults with reading disabilities (RD). Twenty-five university students with RD were compared to 28 typically achieving readers on measures of reading skill, phonological processing, and naming…

The article reviews research on the use of multiple oral rereading (MOR) with reading disabled students. MOR uses daily practice on a selection of little difficulty. Its effectiveness in increasing fluency (accuracy and speed) is examined, and the role of redundancy in three types of reading models is analyzed. (CL)

The double-deficit hypothesis of developmental dyslexia proposes that deficits in phonological processing and naming speed represent independent sources of dysfunction in dyslexia. The present article is a review of the evidence for the double-deficit hypothesis, including a discussion of recent findings related to the hypothesis. Studies in this…

Twenty-one children with specific reading disorders were treated with a method derived from dual-route models and 23 with a method derived from single-route models of reading. Treatment deriving from dual-route models produced significant improvements in homophone recognition. Treatment deriving from single-route models produced significant…

The difficulties experienced by below-average readers in phonological decoding tasks are well documented. Recent research has suggested that additional deficits in perceptual-motor fluency, handedness, and memory may also exist among below-average readers. To evaluate these claims, average and below-average readers and spellers were compared on a…

This study examined the contributions of phonological awareness, rapid naming, and verbal memory to the reading and spelling skills of 54 children (ages 7-12) with severe reading disabilities. Five academic tasks were examined: word attack, word identification, spelling, prose passage speed and accuracy, and reading comprehension. (Author/JDD)