Disabled readers: their intellectual and perceptual capacities at differing ages.

To investigate the multiple relationships between selected measures of intelligence and perception and reading achievement a group of young, poor readers (MCA = 8.4 yr.) and a group of older, poor readers (MCA = 11.2 yr.) were given the Gates-MacGinitie Achievement Test, Peabody Picture Vocabulary Test, Slosson Intelligence Test, Spatial Orientation Memory Test, and Auditory Discrimination Test. The combination of the four predictor variables accounted for a significant amount of the variance in reading vocabulary and comprehension for youngest and older poor readers. Greater variance was accounted for in the reading achievement of younger students than of older students. Perceptual abilities related more strongly for younger students, while intelligence related more strongly for older students. Questions are raised about the validity of using expectancy formulae with younger disabled readers and the "learning disabilities" approach with older disabled readers.