Examining the Reading Difficulty of Secondary Students with Learning Disabilities

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to identify the skill areas in which secondary students with learning disabilities exhibit differential reading performance on narrative versus expository text. For this study, 111 high school students in special and remedial education classes were administered two narrative and two expository passages, with the order of presentation counterbalanced across subjects. Results indicated that students had more difficulty with expository text than with narrative text in terms of reading fluency and comprehension, However, effects for comprehension were mediated by the type of question asked. Implications for the reading instruction of secondary students with learning disabilities are discussed.