Parents’, teachers’, and children's views of reading problems

Abstract

Abstract This study examined children's reading difficulties from the perspectives of the children, their parents, and their teachers. Grade level differences in the types of reported reading problems, and whether or not the child, the parent, and the teacher agreed on the nature of the problem were analyzed. Forty children (grades 1–6), their parents, and their teachers participated in the study. Data were collected with child interviews and parent and teacher questionnaires. Views of the children's reading difficulties varied by grade level, by group, and by problem. Word identification difficulties were the most frequently reported problems. Little consensus existed among individual child‐parent‐teacher triads. However, parent‐teacher consensus was higher, especially for the upper elementary children. In addition, parents of younger poor readers may be more likely than parents of older poor readers to have views that differ from those of classroom teachers. The findings suggest that children, parents, ...