A model attributing poor recall to slow speech-motor encoding is described. The following results, predicted from the model, were obtained with poor readers of normal intelligence (n -24) and normal readers (n = 24) from ages 7 to 13: (a) Poor readers named visually presented, nonword stimuli more slowly than normal readers; (b) fewer poor readers than normal readers employed a cumulative rehearsal strategy during a probed-recall task; (c) the use of cumulative rehearsal was significantly related to naming speed; (d) the performance of poor readers was inferior to that of normal readers for all but the most recently presented items of the probe-recall task; and (e) naming speed and use of cumulative rehearsal accounted for 91% of the true variance of early and middle serial positions of the probed recall task.

The goal of the present investigation was to identify the reading processes that are impaired in children whose digit naming speeds are slow. Continuous digit naming speed was assumed to measure the automaticity with which character codes may be accessed in memory, and the automaticity of this process was assumed to be a prerequisite for the accurate performance of higher level reading processes. In Study I it was found, for children in grades 1 through 3, that digit naming speed was reliably correlated with reading of both irregularly spelled words and pronounceable nonsense words, and that most of the variance shared by irregular-word and nonsense-word reading was accounted for by digit naming speed. These results were interpreted as evidence that character-identification automaticity is equally important to the direct-access and speech-recoding routes of word recognition. Models of how character-identification automaticity might affect each of these routes are discussed. In Study 2 it was found, for children in grades 4 through 10, that the correlation of digit naming speed with reading comprehension was significantly smaller than its correlation with word recognition, and that the former correlation was completely accounted for when either WISC-R verbal IQ or word-recognition accuracy was controlled. These results are contrasted with comparable results reported by other investigators, and methodological differences are noted.

A method of identifying children with specific reading disabilities by identifying discrepancies between their reading and listening comprehension scores was validated with disabled and nondisabled readers in Grades 4, 5, and 6. The method is based on a modification of the reading comprehension subtest of the Peabody Individual Achievement Test (Dunn & Markwardt, 1970). In this modification, even-numbered sentences are read by subjects, and odd-numbered sentences are read by the test administrator as subjects listen. The features of this test that reduce demands on working memory, thereby making it suitable for the detection of a discrepancy between reading and listening comprehension in readers with disabilities, are discussed. A significant group-by-modality interaction was obtained. Children with reading disabilities scored significantly lower on reading than on listening comprehension, while nondisabled readers scored slightly higher, but not significantly so, on reading than on listening comprehension. The appropriateness of this method as a substitute for the traditional method, which is based on the detection of a discrepancy between intelligence and reading and which has recently been proscribed in certain school districts, is discussed. Issues concerning the listening comprehension skills of disabled readers are also discussed.

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The authors would like to thank the teachers of the Elk Grove School District for their participation in this study. Special thanks are extended to Lawrence Harper for his helpful comments and donation of the electrical timing devices. In addition, the time volunteered by observers Robin Hansen and Carol Berkenkotter is greatly appreciated.2 Requests for reprints should be sent to