COGNITIVE PROFILES OF DIFFICULT-TO-REMEDIATE AND READILY REMEDIATED POOR READERS - EARLY INTERVENTION AS A VEHICLE FOR DISTINGUISHING BETWEEN COGNITIVE AND EXPERIENTIAL DEFICITS AS BASIC CAUSES OF SPECIFIC READING-DISABILITY

Reading impaired first graders were given daily tutoring as a ''first cut'' diagnostic to aid in distinguishing between reading difficulties caused by basic cognitive deficits and those caused by experiential d eficits. Reading achievement in most of these children was found to be within or above the average range after one semester of remediation. Children who were difficult to remediate performed below both children who were readily remediated and normal readers on kindergarten and fi rst-grade tests evaluating phonological skills, but not on tests evalu ating visual, semantic and syntactic skills. The results are consisten t with convergent findings from previous research suggesting that read ing problems in some poor readers may be caused primarily by phonologi cal deficits.