Providing a summary of the psychological research on children's reading comprehension, this book explores the psychology of the reading process by concentrating on the development of reading comprehension skills. The book analyzes both the skills of fluent adult readers and the development of children's language from the age of five, when most children are starting to read. Against this background psychological research into the way children understand text is surveyed, and the differences between good and poor comprehenders are discussed. The book concludes with a chapter on the educational implications of this research, which discusses how comprehension problems can be identified and how professional aids, training, and remediation can help. (MM)