Examining the Reading and Cognitive Profiles of Students With Significant Reading Comprehension Difficulties

• Published in: Learning disability quarterly Vol. 44; no. 3; pp. 183 - 196
• Main Authors: Capin, Philip, Cho, Eunsoo, Miciak, Jeremy, Roberts, Greg, Vaughn, Sharon
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Los Angeles, CA Sage Publications, Inc 01.08.2021; SAGE Publications; SAGE PUBLICATIONS, INC; SAGE Publications and Hammill Institute on Disabilities
• Subjects: Cognition; Cognitive Ability; Elementary School Students; Grade 4; Group Membership; Listening Comprehension; Low Achievement; Reading Comprehension; Reading Difficulties; Reading Fluency; Reading Improvement; Reading Skills; Secondary School Students; Severity (of Disability); Special Series: Conceptualization, Identification, and Treatment of Dyslexia; Student Characteristics; Students; Word Recognition; listening comprehension; fourth graders; reading comprehension deficits; word reading; cognitive difficulties
• ISSN: 0731-9487; 2168-376X
• DOI: 10.1177/0731948721989973

This study investigated the word reading and listening comprehension difficulties of fourth-grade students with significant reading comprehension deficits and the cognitive difficulties that underlie these weaknesses. Latent profile analysis was used to classify a sample of fourth-grade students (n = 446) who scored below the 16th percentile on a measure of reading comprehension into subgroups based on their performance in word reading (WR) and listening comprehension (LC). Three latent profiles emerged: (a) moderate deficits in both WR and LC of similar severity (91%), (b) severe deficit in WR paired with moderate LC deficit (5%), and (c) severe deficit in LC with moderate WR difficulties (4%). Analyses examining the associations between cognitive attributes and group membership indicated students with lower performance on cognitive predictors were more likely to be in a severe subgroup. Implications for educators targeting improved reading performance for upper elementary students with significant reading difficulties were discussed.