COMPARISONS IN READING AND READING-RELATED TASKS AMONG STUDENTS WITH AVERAGE INTELLECTUAL ABILITY AND STUDENTS WITH MILD MENTAL-RETARDATION

The purpose of this paper is to expand the conceptual interpretations of a series of recent studies that focus on issues relative to the identification and descriptions of students with and without reading problems. The primary contribution of this paper is to expand the discussion to a group of students with significantly greater ability deficits, those generally referred to as students with mild mental retardation (SMR). The study contrasts SMR who were designated as ''good'' or ''poor'' readers with students of average intellectual ability (SAI) who were designated as ''good'' or ''poor'' readers. Samples were matched for participation on a basis of mental age. The data tend to indicate that differences between the ''good'' and ''poor'' readers among the students with average intellectual ability and between the ''good'' and ''poor'' readers among the SMR show relatively consistent ''good-poor'' differences. The comparisons between the ''good'' readers in either sample are generally nonsignificant as are the comparisons between the samples of ''poor'' readers. The greatest qualitative limitations exist among SMR who are identified as ''poor'' readers.