Children’s Reading Comprehension Difficulties

Comprehension is the ultimate goal of reading. Everyone agrees that reading comprehension is not a simple matter of recognizing individual words, or even of understanding each individual word as our eyes pass over it. All models of comprehension recognize the need for readers to build up a mental representation of text, a process that requires integration across a range of sources of information, from lexical features through to knowledge concerning events in the world (e. Given the complex nature of reading comprehension, it is not surprising that some individuals have difficulties in this area. Individual differences in text comprehension have been observed in both developmental (e. Difficulty with reading comprehension has also been reported in a range of clinical disorders such as early onset hydrocephalus Thus, there is no shortage of evidence pointing to the fact that some individuals experience reading comprehension difficulties. The nature and origins of reading comprehension difficulties, however, are not so clear. The aim of this chapter is to review what is known about reading comprehension difficulties in children, with a view to addressing two major issues. First, although individuals who experience difficulty with reading comprehension can be identified, does it make sense to talk about specific reading comprehension difficulties? Second, what are the causes of reading comprehension failure? The focus of the chapter will be on children who appear to show selective impairments of reading comprehension. That is, their reading accuracy is within the normal range for their age, but their comprehension of what is read is substantially below average. Studies of such children allow us to identify cognitive systems that may be particularly crucial for the development of reading