Retrospective analyses of the reading development of grade 4 students with reading disabilities: Risk status and profiles over 5 years

This study presents a longitudinal examination of the development of reading and reading-related skills of 22 Grade 4 children identified as having reading disabilities (RD) who had been followed since kindergarten. The analyses were conducted to investigate the patterns of emergence of RD as well as reading ability and risk status across the 5 years. The findings of the study are presented with an examination of the trajectories of the children with RD as compared to Grade 4 typical readers (matched for grade, gender, language status, and school) with a similar profile on literacy skills in kindergarten. The results demonstrate the heterogeneous nature of the trajectory of RD in school-age children; although many of the children with RD were at risk in kindergarten, there was a subsample who did not demonstrate reading and phonological difficulties until the third and fourth grades.