This study provides a meta-analysis of the correlational literature on measures of phonological awareness, rapid naming, reading, and related abilities. Correlations (N = 2,257) were corrected for sample size, restriction in range, and attenuation from 49 independent samples. Correlations between phonological awareness (PA) and rapid naming (RAN) were low (.38) and loaded on different factors. PA and RAN were moderately correlated with real-word reading (.48 and .46, respectively). Other findings were that (a) real-word reading was correlated best (r values were .60 to .80) with spelling and pseudoword reading, but correlations with RAN, PA, vocabulary, orthography, IQ, and memory measures were in the low-to-moderate range (.37 to .43); and (b) correlations between reading and RAN/PA varied minimally across age groups but were weaker in poor readers than in skilled readers. The results suggested that the importance of RAN and PA measures in accounting for reading performance has been overstated.

This research analyzed the combined results of three meta-analyses which examined the extent to which a variety of measures of specific abilities related to reading. More than 450 studies were reviewed and almost 11,000 different coefficients were analyzed. The best predictors of reading proved to be other written language abilities (i.e., abilities involving print). The implications were: (1) professionals interested in improving literacy skills should focus on teaching written language abilities such as print awareness and book handling, letters, phoneme-letter correspondences, word recognition, alphabet knowledge, and comprehension and (2) the current interest in the role of nonprint abilities in reading such as phonological awareness, rapid naming, intelligence, and memory might be overemphasized.

This article reviews the efforts made since 1962 to define learning disabilities, provides readers with a clear picture of the current status of such definitions, and recommends that a consensus form around the definition proposed by the NJCLD.

Mathematics learning disabilities (LD) have gained increased attention over the last decade from both researchers and practitioners. A large percentage of students receiving learning disability services experience difficulties with mathematics, but little research has examined the specific mathematics behaviors of students with LD who have teacher-identified math weaknesses. This study examines the literature on mathematics LD and identifies specific behaviors from that body of research for the purpose of determining the extent to which those behaviors are observed in students with LD. Data are presented from observations of 391 special education professionals on 1724 students with LD, 870 of whom had identified math weaknesses and 854 of whom did not. Our results validate the existing literature and provide implications for teachers, researchers, and others interested in studying mathematics LD.

This article reviews the results of 38 studies which attempted to train children in psycholinguistic skills and which used the ITPA as the criterion of improvement. It was concluded that the effectiveness of such training has not been conclusively demonstrated and therefore that the rapid expansion of psycholinguistic training programs seems unwarranted.