Beyond phonology: What else is needed to describe the problems of below-average readers and spellers?

The difficulties experienced by below-average readers in phonological decoding tasks are well documented. Recent research has suggested that additional deficits in perceptual-motor fluency, handedness, and memory may also exist among below-average readers. To evaluate these claims, average and below-average readers and spellers were compared on a range of phonological processing, verbal short-term and working memory, rapid naming, handedness, and perceptual-motor fluency tasks. Average and below-average readers were sampled in a comparable manner and were also comparable on age, gender, nonverbal ability, socioeconomic status, and ethnicity. Below-average readers and spellers performed lower than average readers and spellers on rhyme detection, pseudoword decoding, and rapid digit (but not picture) naming tasks, but showed no differences in handedness tasks or on a range of other perceptual-motor tasks.