Reading Difficulty

Types of Reading Disability By: Louisa Moats and Carol Tolman (2008)

Researchers have identified three kinds of developmental reading disabilities that often overlap but that can

be separate and distinct: (1) phonological deficit, (2) processing speed/orthographic processing deficit, and

(3) comprehension deficit. Researchers have made considerable progress in understanding all types of reading disabilities (Fletcher et

al., 2007). For purposes of research, "reading impaired" children may be all those who score below the 30th percentile in basic reading skill. Among all of those poor readers, about 70-80 percent have trouble with accurate and fluent word recognition that originates with weaknesses in phonological processing, often in

combination with fluency and comprehension problems. These students have obvious trouble learning sound-symbol correspondence, sounding out words, and spelling. The term dyslexic is most often applied to this group.

Another 10-15 percent of poor readers appear to be accurate but too slow in word recognition and text reading. They have specific weaknesses with speed of word recognition and automatic recall of word spellings, although they do relatively well on tests of phoneme awareness and other phonological skills. They have trouble developing automatic recognition of words by sight and tend to spell phonetically but not

accurately. This subgroup is thought to have relative strengths in phonological processing, but the nature of their relative weakness is still debated by reading scientists (Fletcher et al, 2007; Katzir et al., 2006; Wolf & Bowers, 1999). Some argue that the problem is primarily one of timing or processing speed, and others

propose that there is a specific deficit within the orthographic processor that affects the storage and recall of exact letter sequences. This processing speed/orthographic subgroup generally has milder difficulties with reading than students with phonological processing deficits.

Yet another 10-15 percent of poor readers appear to decode words better than they can comprehend the meanings of passages. These poor readers are distinguished from dyslexic poor readers because they can read words accurately and quickly and they can spell. Their problems are caused by disorders of social

reasoning, abstract verbal reasoning, or language comprehension. Subtypes of Reading Disability

Researchers currently propose that there are three kinds of developmental reading disabilities that often

overlap but that can be separate and distinct:

1. Phonological deficit, implicating a core problem in the phonological processing system of oral language.

2. Processing speed/orthographic processing deficit, affecting speed and accuracy of printed word recognition (also called naming speed problem or fluency problem).

3. Comprehension deficit, often coinciding with the first two types of problems, but specifically found in

children with social-linguistic disabilities (e.g., autism spectrum), vocabulary weaknesses, generalized language learning disorders, and learning difficulties that affect abstract reasoning and logical thinking.

If a student has a prominent and specific weakness in either phonological or rapid print (naming-speed) processing, they are said to have a single deficit in word recognition. If they have a combination of phonological and naming-speed deficits, they are said to have a double deficit (Wolf & Bowers, 1999).

Double-deficit children are more common than single-deficit and are also the most challenging to remediate. Related and coexisting problems in children with reading disabilities often include:

• faulty pencil grip and letter formation;

• attention problems;

• anxiety;

• task avoidance;

• weak impulse control;

• distractibility;

• problems with comprehension of spoken language; and

• confusion of mathematical signs and computation processes.

About 30 percent of all children with dyslexia also have attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD).

Moats, L, & Tolman, C (2009). Language essentials for teachers of reading and spelling (LETRS): The challenge of

learning to read (module 1). Boston: Sopris West.

Three Things Research Tells Us about Interventions for Struggling Readers By: Joe Torgenson, et al. (2007)

This article, excerpted from a larger guidance document from the Center on Instruction, looks at what

research tells us about helping students who read below grade level, and highlights the following findings:

1) schools must provide varied instructional support, based on the degree and nature of the student's

difficulty; 2) it is important for students to learn comprehension strategies, and strategy instruction should

be coordinated between literacy specialists and content-area teachers; and 3) more research is needed to

prove which instructional improvements are really effective. When considering research findings, we can draw several conclusions about effective instruction for

struggling readers. First, schools need to be able to provide high-quality instruction in both word-level and comprehension skills in order to meet the diverse needs of students who continue to struggle with reading in late-elementary,

middle, and high school. Because struggling readers differ in both the degree and the nature of their reading problems, their instructional supports need to vary in intensity and focus. Some students with adequate word-level skills who perform slightly below grade level might be effectively served through differentiated

instruction in content-area classes. Many other students, however, will need much more intensive reading instruction than content area teachers alone can provide. There is a clear role for reading specialists in middle and high school to provide

intensive, focused instruction to students with serious gaps in their reading skill, including students with learning disabilities. Second, with the exception of instruction to increase reading accuracy and fluency, the content of effective

literacy instruction for students reading below grade is very similar to that recommended for students reading at grade level and above. As with students reading at grade level, general recommendations include instruction to help students apply reading comprehension strategies more effectively before, during, and

after reading, instruction to increase the breadth and depth of vocabulary knowledge, instruction and assignments that are motivating and engaging, and instruction that improves knowledge of content-area concepts and facts.

The overlap between the instructional needs of struggling readers and those reading at grade level suggests the opportunity for carefully coordinated instruction between reading specialists in intensive reading classes and content-area teachers in their subject areas. Many struggling readers may require support beyond that

which content-area teachers can provide to become proficient in the use of specific comprehension strategies (more explicit and intensive instruction), but it would seem immensely helpful if content-area teachers were explaining and reinforcing the use of similar strategies with textbooks in social studies,

history, science, and so on. In fact, given the problems of obtaining strong impacts on measures of general reading comprehension noted earlier, extending both instructional and practice opportunities in the use of effective reading strategies for struggling readers into the content areas seems a very important instructional innovation for middle and high school.

Third, it is clear that we need more research conducted in real classroom settings over a substantial period of time before we can realistically estimate the extent to which instruction in reading accuracy and fluency, as well as other areas important for reading comprehension, can actually close the reading gap for students

with varying degrees of reading impairment. Most studies conducted thus far have identified instructional procedures that are more effective than a control condition involving "traditional instruction." However, very few of these studies have used

standardized measures that provide standard scores or percentile ranks that allow us to estimate the extent to which students have become better readers in relation to grade level reading standards. Further, we are not aware of any studies that have examined changes in performance on state-mandated accountability

measures as a result of exposure to the kinds of instructional improvements recommended in this document. Without research with these kinds of measures, it is difficult to specify the necessary instructional conditions for students with various levels and types of reading impairment to make significant

improvements toward grade-level reading standards.

Torgenson, J. K., Houston, D. D., Rissman, L. M., Decker, S. M., Roberts, G., Vaughn, S., Wexler, J. Francis, D. J, Rivera,

M. O., Lesaux, N. (2007). Academic literacy instruction for adolescents: A guidance document from the Center on

Instruction. Portsmouth, NH: RMC Research Corporation, Center on Instruction. Retrieved from

http://www.centeroninstruction.org/files/Academic%20Literacy.pdf.

Types of Reading Disability By: Louisa Moats and Carol Tolman (2008)

Researchers have identified three kinds of developmental reading disabilities that often overlap but that can

be separate and distinct: (1) phonological deficit, (2) processing speed/orthographic processing deficit, and

(3) comprehension deficit. Researchers have made considerable progress in understanding all types of reading disabilities (Fletcher et

al., 2007). For purposes of research, "reading impaired" children may be all those who score below the 30th percentile in basic reading skill. Among all of those poor readers, about 70-80 percent have trouble with accurate and fluent word recognition that originates with weaknesses in phonological processing, often in

combination with fluency and comprehension problems. These students have obvious trouble learning sound-symbol correspondence, sounding out words, and spelling. The term dyslexic is most often applied to this group.

Another 10-15 percent of poor readers appear to be accurate but too slow in word recognition and text reading. They have specific weaknesses with speed of word recognition and automatic recall of word spellings, although they do relatively well on tests of phoneme awareness and other phonological skills. They have trouble developing automatic recognition of words by sight and tend to spell phonetically but not

accurately. This subgroup is thought to have relative strengths in phonological processing, but the nature of their relative weakness is still debated by reading scientists (Fletcher et al, 2007; Katzir et al., 2006; Wolf & Bowers, 1999). Some argue that the problem is primarily one of timing or processing speed, and others

propose that there is a specific deficit within the orthographic processor that affects the storage and recall of exact letter sequences. This processing speed/orthographic subgroup generally has milder difficulties with reading than students with phonological processing deficits.

Yet another 10-15 percent of poor readers appear to decode words better than they can comprehend the meanings of passages. These poor readers are distinguished from dyslexic poor readers because they can read words accurately and quickly and they can spell. Their problems are caused by disorders of social

reasoning, abstract verbal reasoning, or language comprehension. Subtypes of Reading Disability

Researchers currently propose that there are three kinds of developmental reading disabilities that often

overlap but that can be separate and distinct:

1. Phonological deficit, implicating a core problem in the phonological processing system of oral language.

2. Processing speed/orthographic processing deficit, affecting speed and accuracy of printed word recognition (also called naming speed problem or fluency problem).

3. Comprehension deficit, often coinciding with the first two types of problems, but specifically found in

children with social-linguistic disabilities (e.g., autism spectrum), vocabulary weaknesses, generalized language learning disorders, and learning difficulties that affect abstract reasoning and logical thinking.

If a student has a prominent and specific weakness in either phonological or rapid print (naming-speed) processing, they are said to have a single deficit in word recognition. If they have a combination of phonological and naming-speed deficits, they are said to have a double deficit (Wolf & Bowers, 1999).

Double-deficit children are more common than single-deficit and are also the most challenging to remediate. Related and coexisting problems in children with reading disabilities often include:

• faulty pencil grip and letter formation;

• attention problems;

• anxiety;

• task avoidance;

• weak impulse control;

• distractibility;

• problems with comprehension of spoken language; and

• confusion of mathematical signs and computation processes.

About 30 percent of all children with dyslexia also have attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD).

Moats, L, & Tolman, C (2009). Language essentials for teachers of reading and spelling (LETRS): The challenge of

learning to read (module 1). Boston: Sopris West.

Three Things Research Tells Us about Interventions for Struggling Readers By: Joe Torgenson, et al. (2007)

This article, excerpted from a larger guidance document from the Center on Instruction, looks at what

research tells us about helping students who read below grade level, and highlights the following findings:

1) schools must provide varied instructional support, based on the degree and nature of the student's

difficulty; 2) it is important for students to learn comprehension strategies, and strategy instruction should

be coordinated between literacy specialists and content-area teachers; and 3) more research is needed to

prove which instructional improvements are really effective. When considering research findings, we can draw several conclusions about effective instruction for

struggling readers. First, schools need to be able to provide high-quality instruction in both word-level and comprehension skills in order to meet the diverse needs of students who continue to struggle with reading in late-elementary,

middle, and high school. Because struggling readers differ in both the degree and the nature of their reading problems, their instructional supports need to vary in intensity and focus. Some students with adequate word-level skills who perform slightly below grade level might be effectively served through differentiated

instruction in content-area classes. Many other students, however, will need much more intensive reading instruction than content area teachers alone can provide. There is a clear role for reading specialists in middle and high school to provide

intensive, focused instruction to students with serious gaps in their reading skill, including students with learning disabilities. Second, with the exception of instruction to increase reading accuracy and fluency, the content of effective

literacy instruction for students reading below grade is very similar to that recommended for students reading at grade level and above. As with students reading at grade level, general recommendations include instruction to help students apply reading comprehension strategies more effectively before, during, and

after reading, instruction to increase the breadth and depth of vocabulary knowledge, instruction and assignments that are motivating and engaging, and instruction that improves knowledge of content-area concepts and facts.

The overlap between the instructional needs of struggling readers and those reading at grade level suggests the opportunity for carefully coordinated instruction between reading specialists in intensive reading classes and content-area teachers in their subject areas. Many struggling readers may require support beyond that

which content-area teachers can provide to become proficient in the use of specific comprehension strategies (more explicit and intensive instruction), but it would seem immensely helpful if content-area teachers were explaining and reinforcing the use of similar strategies with textbooks in social studies,

history, science, and so on. In fact, given the problems of obtaining strong impacts on measures of general reading comprehension noted earlier, extending both instructional and practice opportunities in the use of effective reading strategies for struggling readers into the content areas seems a very important instructional innovation for middle and high school.

Third, it is clear that we need more research conducted in real classroom settings over a substantial period of time before we can realistically estimate the extent to which instruction in reading accuracy and fluency, as well as other areas important for reading comprehension, can actually close the reading gap for students

with varying degrees of reading impairment. Most studies conducted thus far have identified instructional procedures that are more effective than a control condition involving "traditional instruction." However, very few of these studies have used

standardized measures that provide standard scores or percentile ranks that allow us to estimate the extent to which students have become better readers in relation to grade level reading standards. Further, we are not aware of any studies that have examined changes in performance on state-mandated accountability

measures as a result of exposure to the kinds of instructional improvements recommended in this document. Without research with these kinds of measures, it is difficult to specify the necessary instructional conditions for students with various levels and types of reading impairment to make significant

improvements toward grade-level reading standards.

Torgenson, J. K., Houston, D. D., Rissman, L. M., Decker, S. M., Roberts, G., Vaughn, S., Wexler, J. Francis, D. J, Rivera,

M. O., Lesaux, N. (2007). Academic literacy instruction for adolescents: A guidance document from the Center on

Instruction. Portsmouth, NH: RMC Research Corporation, Center on Instruction. Retrieved from

http://www.centeroninstruction.org/files/Academic%20Literacy.pdf.