Investigating Reading Comprehension in Adolescents with Intellectual Disabilities: Evaluating the Simple View of Reading.

Karin Nilsson,Henrik Danielsson,David Messer,Lucy Henry,Åsa Elwér,Stefan Samuelsson

doi:10.5334/joc.188

Abstract

Reading comprehension difficulties are common in individuals with intellectual disabilities (ID), but the influences of underlying abilities related to reading comprehension in this group have rarely been investigated. One aim of this study was to investigate the Simple View of Reading as a theoretical framework to describe cognitive and linguistic abilities predicting individual differences in reading comprehension in adolescents with non-specific ID. A second aim was to investigate whether predictors of listening comprehension and reading comprehension suggest that individuals with ID have a delayed pattern of development (copying early grade variance in reading comprehension) or a different pattern of development involving a new or an unusual pattern of cognitive and linguistic predictors. A sample of 136 adolescents with non-specific ID was assessed on reading comprehension, decoding, linguistic, and cognitive measures. The hypotheses were evaluated using structural equation models. The results showed that the Simple View of Reading was not applicable in explaining reading comprehension in this group, however, the concurrent predictors of comprehension (vocabulary and phonological executive-loaded working memory) followed a delayed profile.

Highlights

IntroductionStudents with intellectual disabilities (ID) have delays in a range of cognitive and language abilities (Danielsson, Henry, Messer, & Rönnberg, 2012; Danielsson, Henry, Rönnberg, & Nilsson, 2010; Henry, 2001; Henry & Winfield, 2010; Molen, Henry, & Luit, 2014) including reading comprehension
The first aim of the present study was to examine the applicability of the Simple View of Reading (SVR) in a sample of adolescents with non-specific intellectual disabilities (ID)
The second aim was to identify the concurrent cognitive and linguistic predictors of listening and reading comprehension in the same sample to evaluate whether delay or difference approaches best accounted for the findings

Summary

Introduction

Students with ID have delays in a range of cognitive and language abilities (Danielsson, Henry, Messer, & Rönnberg, 2012; Danielsson, Henry, Rönnberg, & Nilsson, 2010; Henry, 2001; Henry & Winfield, 2010; Molen, Henry, & Luit, 2014) including reading comprehension. It appears that in a comparison of different disability groups, children with ID have the lowest performance on reading comprehension assessments (Wei, Blackorby, & Schiller, 2011). Association, 2013) but reading comprehension reflects much more than IQ. It is a multifaceted process that begins with processes such as the fine coordination of eye movements and ends with the processing of semantic information

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