Identifying Specific Reading Disability Subtypes for Effective Educational Remediation.

The primary purpose of this study was to investigate the various neurocognitive processes concomitant to reading by attempting to identify various subtypes of reading disorders in a referred sample. Participants were 216 elementary school students in grades two through five who were given select subtests of the Woodcock Johnson-III Tests of Cognitive Ability. They were classified using a pattern of strengths and weaknesses (PSW) approach as having no SLD (control), 49 had an Associative Learning (Glr) SLD, 21 had a Gf-Gv SLD, 42 had a Gc SLD, 29 had a Learning Efficiency (Gs) SLD, and 40 had an Executive (Gsm) subtype SLD. Regressions completed for each of the six groups indicated that differing sets of cognitive skills were predictive of reading performance pertaining to letter and word identification skills, reading fluency skills, and passage comprehension skills. Rather than one, unique cognitive profile that represents all students with reading disorders,breakdowns in phonology, orthography, working memory, executive skills, and processing speed contribute in varying amounts to deficits in decoding, fluency, and deriving meaning from print. Viewing reading disorders from a subtype perspective allows us to more accurately classify, and most importantly, inform intervention decision making. Specific intervention recommendations are suggested for each cognitive subtype, and a discussion regarding limitations, and implications for future research are addressed as well.