Developmental Changes in Reading and Reading Disabilities

Abstract

Reading is one of the most complex cognitive activities that most of us engage in on a regular basis. It requires a host of sensory, perceptual, and linguistic abilities, and it takes many years to fully master. Even among educated adults, there is considerable variability in reading skill (Jackson & McCelland, 1979). In an attempt to understand complex cognitive processes, psychologists have often developed models in which these processes are conceptualized in terms of their component skills (e.g., Badderly, 1986). In the case of reading, Gough and Tunmer (1986) proposed the Simple View of Reading. According to this view, reading comprehension is the product of two basic components: word recognition and linguistic comprehension. Over the last 15 years, considerable evidence has emerged in support of the Simple View of Reading (Aaron, Joshi, & Williams, 1999; Catts, Hogan, & Fey, 2003; Hoover & Gough, 1990). Although this work has documented the important roles of word recognition and linguistic comprehension in reading, little data are available on how these roles change over time. In this chapter, we present the results of a longitudinal investigation that demonstrates the developmental changes in the component processes of reading, and we discuss the implications of these changes for the identification and remediation of children with reading disabilities.

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