In order to discover whether there were any inner-city elementary schools in Massachusetts which were successful in teaching children to read, a two-year study was undertaken. Results of the study, reported in this document, showed that there is no one pattern for success but that there is a process by which schools, either alone or in…

Recent research indicates the centrality of "attending" as a variable in reading acquisition. Attending is, in fact, more important than such traditionally accepted influences as intelligence, cognitive style, attitudes, and language background. Differences in attending behavior, which are molded through match and mismatch of expectations with…

A study examined the reading problems of adults in Newfoundland (Canada) with low reading ability. It explored the genesis of these problems through a retrospective analysis of their lives as school children; and determined the relationship between literacy development and personal background factors, school factors, physiological factors, and…

This review of literature on stress and reading disabilities covers some affective research and theoretical footings. The research is considered in terms of historical research foundations (up to 1979) and recent research findings (1979-1989). The literature relates emotional stress either as cause, effect, or a concomitant aspect of reading…

FOUR HYPOTHESES WERE INVESTIGATED IN A STUDY DESIGNED TO DISCOVER WHETHER READING PATTERNS AND SUCCESS DURING CHILDREN'S PRIMARY YEARS COULD BE ANTICIPATED FROM EMOTIONAL CLASSIFICATIONS DETERMINED DURING THEIR PRESCHOOL YEARS. IT WAS HYPOTHESIZED THAT CHILDREN WITH EMOTIONAL DIFFICULTIES DURING PRESCHOOL YEARS WOULD HAVE MORE DIFFICULTY LEARNING…

Two alternative models for identifying kindergarten children with a high risk of becoming reading failures were compared in this study. One model places primary emphasis on psychometric test procedures assessing linguistic and perceptual-motor skills related to reading readiness. The alternative strategy is based upon the kindergarten teacher's…

Uses the example of a 12-year-old nonreader to review fundamental principles essential to teaching seriously disabled preadolescent nonreaders. Argues that teachers must begin with an acute awareness of how students feel; accurately access strengths and weaknesses; find starting points that will guarantee initial success; be clear about time…

The performance of good and poor readers was compared on a series of three visually presented paired associate tasks varying the verbal codability level of response items. Performance of the 32 poor readers was significantly lower than that of the 32 good readers across all three tasks. There were no differences between good and poor readers in…

Identification of ingredients of successful urban reading programs in order to effect an increase in reading achievement in urban schools is the purpose of this paper. An historical-sociological framework is established. Pertinent literature which seeks to explain the causes of reading failure in urban schools is reviewed. Among the topics…

Both the remediation of reading deficiencies and the alleviation of severely deviant behaviors are necessary for the proper social and emotional development of the child and for his normal academic achievement. A successful reading program for children with behavior problems provides for daily success. Initial and continued teacher reinforcement…

The purposes of this study were to evaluate the effect of a diagnostic structured kindergarten program on the predicted reading levels of disadvantaged urban children and to compare the effect of this program with the effect of the traditional kindergarten curriculum. The subjects were 196 children in eight kindergarten classes. More than 70% of…

Responds to an article by S. Alan Cohen on oral language deficiency and its relation to reading failure, and concludes that reading achievement and reading failure are largely determined by cognitive and communicative strategies that may be socialized differently in diverse social and ethnic groups. (JM)

Features of a model of reading that is both sensitive to individual differences and consistent with the assumption that reading processes are interactive are discussed in this report. A description of how this model accounts for individual differences in reading skill suggests three types of reading problems: slow word decoding, slow sentence…

A study determined classroom teachers' opinions of causal factors of reading failure and reported their attitudes on the major issues in reading instruction as suggested in current research. A representative sample of 100 elementary classroom teachers from School District #299 in the Chicago, Illinois area were sent the Ross Reading Survey. A…