COGNITIVE PROFILES OF READING-DISABILITY - COMPARISONS OF DISCREPANCY AND LOW ACHIEVEMENT DEFINITIONS

To examine the validity of distinguishing children with reading disabilities according to discrepancy and low-achievement definitions, we obtained four assessments of expected reading achievement and two assessments of actual reading achievement for 199 children, 7.5-9.5 years old. These assessments were used to subdivide the sample into discrepancy and low-achievement definitional groups who were compared on 9 cognitive variables related to reading proficiency. Results did not support the validity of discrepancy versus low achievement definitions. Although differences between children with impaired reading and children without impaired reading were large, differences between those children with impaired reading who met IQ-based discrepancy definitions and those who met low reading achievement definitions were small or not significant. Measures of phonological awareness were robust indicators of differences between children with impaired reading and children without impaired reading regardless of how reading disability was defined.