Reading disability and the differential ability scales

Abstract

This study contrasted the performance on the Differential Abilities Scales (DAS) of a carefully selected sample of reading-disabled children with a matched control group of children from the standardization sample. It was hypothesized that patterns on the DAS might be similar to those found on the Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children-Revised and on the British Abilities Scales (BAS). The results suggest that reading-disabled children as a group do demonstrate a characteristic profile on the DAS. They score relatively poorly on the achievement tests and on two of the three diagnostic tests, Recall of Digits and Recall of Objects. The one exception to complete profile similarity between the DAS and the BAS was Speed of Information Processing. In the present study, low scores on Speed of Information Processing did not characterize the reading-disabled children as a whole but did characterize a subgroup of reading-disabled children. Clusters of reading-disabled children were generated from the data, and specific profiles of subgroups of children are presented.