Improving the Prediction of Reading for the Individual Child

Abstract

In a follow-up of 208 boys, the 16 who scored low on a prekindergarten screening battery, but were satisfactory readers four years later, were compared with 13 others, who were low on both prekindergarten and reading measures. All but two of the 16 good readers, but only one poor reader, were classified by criteria consisting mainly of biographical variables. Four sets of biographical and screening data, applied to the 179 boys who scored above the screening cutoff, identified 16 of 17 who became poor readers, but only one good reader. The four subgroups identified resembled subtypes of reading disability found by some researchers.