Richard K. Wagner – författare

What cognitive processes and skills do children draw on to make meaning from text? How are these capacities consolidated over the course of development? What puts some learners at risk for comprehension difficulties? This authoritative volume presents state-of-the-science research on the behavioral and biological components of successful reading comprehension. Uniquely integrative, the book covers everything from decoding, fluency, and vocabulary knowledge to embodiment theory, eye movements, gene–environment interactions, and neurobiology. The contributors are prominent investigators who describe their methods and findings in depth and identify important implications for the classroom.

This book provides an overview of current research on the development of reading skills as well as practices to assist educational professionals with assessment, prevention, and intervention for students with reading difficulties.  The book reviews the Componential Model of Reading (CMR) and provides assessment techniques, instructional recommendations, and application models. It pinpoints specific cognitive, psychological, and environmental deficits contributing to low reading skills, so educators can accurately identify student problems and design and implement appropriate interventions. Chapters offer methods for assessing problems in decoding, word and sound recognition, and comprehension. In addition, chapters emphasize the recognition of student individuality as readers and learners, from understanding distinctions between difficulties and disabilities to the effects of first-language orthography on second-language learning.

Topics featured in this book include:

Reading Development and Difficulties is a must-have resource for researchers, practitioners, and graduate students in varied fields, including child and school psychology; assessment, testing, and evaluation; social work; and special education.

"I think the book has the potential to be a game changer. It will certainly challenge the expectations of policy makers, not to mention the teachers of beginning readers. These chapters will enhance the knowledge base of those in our schools who are charged with the lofty task of assuring that children have the best possible opportunitiesto acquire the skill of reading.”

Sir Jim RoseChair and author of Independent Review of the Teaching of Early Reading: Final Report (2006)