In this study, the reading comprehension of deaf children and adolescents in the Netherlands is examined along with their word identification. The reading comprehension of 464 deaf students and the word identification of 504 deaf students between 6 and 20 years of age was examined. The results show the reading comprehension scores of deaf children to be far below the scores of hearing children. On average, the deaf subjects scored at a level equivalent to a hearing child in the first grade. The word identification scores of the deaf children, however, were almost equivalent to the scores of hearing children. Although reading comprehension and word identification appear to be related, this relation does not completely explain the comprehension difficulties encountered by deaf children. Additional factors are required to explain deaf children's difficulties with reading comprehension.

This article examines the reliability and validity of the construct, mode of acquisition (MOA). The MOA of a word denotes the way in which the word's meaning is learned. A word's meaning can be acquired perceptually, linguistically, or by some combination of both. In Experiment 1, 26 student volunteers from third year special education courses rated 566 words, taken from reading texts in elementary school, on MOA. Our findings show that MOA ratings gradually change over grades, shifting from mainly perceptually acquired word meanings in Grade 1 texts to mainly linguistically acquired concepts in Grade 6 texts. In Experiment 2, 34 educational professionals completed a list on MOA, concreteness, or imageability. Judgments on the MOA proved to be different from judgments of concreteness and imageability. We suggest that the increasingly linguistic character of word meanings contribute to explaining some of the reading difficulties of deaf children.Whereas many word characteristics have been investigated extensively, such as word familiarity, age of acquisition, concreteness, and imageability (Altaribba,

A BS TRA CTThe relation between performance in phonemic segmentation and reading and writing ability is discussed. Not much is known about how segmentation is carried out and which word properties influence performance. Therefore, effects of word properties (length, CV structure, syllabic structure, meaning) were investigated in two experiments. Strong indications were obtained that an onset-rime distinction is relevant for the process of segmentation. The meaning of a word appears to have no influence. The decentration hypothesis can therefore be abandoned as an explanation for segmentation difficulties.Effects of length and syllabic boundary can be explained by the (disruptive) effect of consonant clusters, which are not only difficult to segment themselves, but also adversely affect the processing of segments earlier in the word. This leads to the conclusion that a simple, strictly serial model for segmentation cannot be adequate. The results furthermore suggest that an articulatory rather than a phonological code is the object of segmentation. RESUMEAnalyse phonkmique: effets des propriktks du mot I1 y a des moments au cours du dtveloppement de I'apprentissage de la lecture et de I'tcriture oh il est capital d'avoir la comprthension fondamentale de la structure sonore des mots de I'oral qui est nkessaire A la segmentation d'un mot oral en ses constituants phontmiques. C'est ce que I'on appelle la tlche d'analyse phontmique.La conscience phontmique, ainsi mesurte, ou mesuree A I'aide d'autres tlches, a une tres forte correlation avec le savoir lire. Nous examinons de plus prts la conscience ISSN 0141-0423 $2.00 0 1989 Journal of Research in Reudhg (UKRA) 60 ROBERT SCHREUDER AND WIM H. J. VAN BONphonemique dans cet article. Les sujets de notre experience sont des enfants de six ans qui ont recu environ trois mois d'enseignement de la lecture et de I'ecriture. On ne sait pas grand chose de la facon dont on procede pour segmenter et quelles proprittes des mots ont un effet sur les resultats. C'est pourquoi nous itudions les effets de proprietes des mots telles que la structure CV, la structure syllabique, et la longueur. On etudie Cgalement la difference entre mots reels et pseudo-mots pour voir si le fait qu'une signification soit attachee A une chaine phontmique gene la segmentation comme le donne penser l'hypothtse de la decentration. On presente deux experiences. Dans la premitre experience, les enfants segmentent complttent un mot oral ou on leur demande de segmenter uniquement le premier phoneme. La premiere experience montre que la longueur du mot et la structure syllabique ont un effet sur les rksultats et que ce que I'on appelle la frontiere de rime initiale joue un rdle important. On ne trouve pas de preuves en faveur de l'hypothtse de la decentration. I1 apparait de plus que la longueur du mot influence egalement les resultats quand il s'agit de segmenter uniquement le premier phontme. Les donnkes suggtrent en outre que la presence de groupes consonantiques fait particulierement probltme dans I'analyse...

EMLA reduces pain from venepuncture. The placebo effect probably results from desirable responding. Behavioural distress is a more direct measure than self-reported pain. More sophisticated designs should be used for the provision of procedural information and distraction.

This Study investigated whether the pseudoword repetition difference between poor and normal readers could be explained by differences in memory for verbal materials or in familiarity with the composition of verbal materials. Dutch second graders and poor readers scoring in the same range on a word-reading test repeated pseudowords that varied in length and wordlikeness. The pseudoword repetition deficit of poor readers reported in the literature was replicated. Although the repetition scores were influenced by pseudoword length and wordlikeness, no interaction with reader group was found, thus indicating that neither variable represented a causal factor in the poor readers' repetition deficit. Statistical correction for reader group differences on a phoneme detection task and an auditory discrimination task made the pseudoword repetition difference disappear. We conclude that the basic problem is unlikely to be with subvocal rehearsal, and that the cause of the repetition deficit is already operative in early, perceptual stages of processing.