A longitudinal study of two groups of children with early reading problems.

The word lists of the Standard Reading Inventory were administered to five successive classes of beginning third graders in a single school. Those students scoring at the two lowest levels, preprimer and primer, all of whom had received consistent individualized reading instruction, were interviewed and tested individually when they were in junior or senior high school. The preprimer group continued to show serious disability at follow-up, with a mean retardation of 4.5 years in reading and 5.9 years in spelling, and continued to require help from learning-disabilities teachers. The primer group, only 1-2 years retarded in reading and spelling, were coping academically with little special help.