ABSTRACT
Children who struggle with the early stages of reading, particularly the development of phonological awareness and decoding, face increasing obstacles each year to their literacy development (Adams & Bruck, 1995; Juel, 1988; Torgesen & Burgess, 1998). Because they cannot pronounce words accurately or quickly, they struggle to comprehend and gain conceptual knowledge (Beck & Juel, 1995; Shaywitz, Fletcher, & Shaywitz, 1994).With each year, the gap between their reading skill and ability to meet the ever-increasing expectations for profi cient literacy continues to widen and a disproportionate percentage of these students end up dropping out of school (Wagner, Blackorby, & Hebbeler, 1993). Effective reading instruction is, therefore, a critical issue for students with learning disabilities (LD) of which an estimated 80% have diffi culty mastering varied aspects of reading (Wagner et al., 1993). Approximately 3.5% of children in the United States receive services for a reading disability (Snow, Burns, & Griffi n, 1998); the accurate and early identifi cation of these children is a critical concern (Lipka, Lesaux, & Siegel, 2006).
