Determinants of reading performance and achievement.

Verbal, nonverbal, demographic, and eye-hand laterality measures were administered to a sample of 34 Navy recruits attending a remedial reading program and 53 recruits who were members of a regular recruit company. Verbal intelligence scores (as determined by the General Classification Test) differentiated best between the remediation and non-remediation groups. Race (being non-Caucasian) was also associated positively with the need for reading remediation. Reading achievement within the remedial group was related positively to race (being non-Caucasian). These results indicate that low intelligence and cultural factors may account for deficient reading performance among Navy recruits. The results also show that, while self-reported measures of laterality may not be especially useful in screening for remedial readers, these measures may nontheless serve to identify neuropsychological factors that may underlie the condition.