SERIAL RAPID NAMING SKILLS IN CHILDREN WITH READING DISABILITIES

This study compared the performance of children with reading disabilit y (RD) and normal reading achievement (NRA) on tasks of serial rapid n aming, verbal fluency, letter-based word retrieval, and articulatory s peed. The groups, composed of children at two discrete age levels, one younger and one older, were matched for age, gender, and neighborhood school. Analyses of the on-line measurement of the children's serial rapid naming indicated that the children with RD had significantly lar ger reaction times anti production durations than their NRA peers desp ite similar levels of accuracy. They also performed significantly wors e on the categorical verbal fluency task, the letter-based ward retrie val task, and the test of articulatory speed. The findings suggest tha t both access and post-access processes, such as oral-motor inefficien cy that extends the duration of word production, may be implicated in the slower serial rapid naming that has typified many samples of child ren with RD.