A comparison of phonological skills in children with reading comprehension difficulties and children with decoding difficulties

Abstract

This paper examines phonological skills in children with two distinct forms of reading difficulty: comprehension problems and decoding problems. In the first study a group of children with normal decoding skills but poor reading comprehension skills was studied. These children were found to have age-appropriate phonological skills. It is argued that normal phonological skills have enabled them to develop proficient decoding skills. A second study assessed the phonological skills of a group of children with decoding difficulties. These children showed marked deficits on tests of phonological skills. It appears that weak phonological skills underlie these children's decoding difficulties.