LEARNING-DISABLED ADOLESCENTS COMPREHENSION OF NATURALISTIC NARRATIVES

The ability of 20 normally achieving and 20 learning-disabled 8th- and 9th-grade readers to comprehend and interpret 2 fairly long and compl ex narratives, describing the emotional reactions of characters to rea listic situations, was compared. The pattern of recall across story ca tegories was similar for both groups. However, the learning-disabled r eaders nor only recalled less overall than the normal readers, they we re also less successful at differentiating levels of importance in the macrostructure of the stories. All students included less of the info rmation needed to understand the characters' interactions in the more difficult story than in the easier story. Although normal readers coul d supply this information when directly probed-for it, learning-disabl ed students were less successful in this respect, suggesting serious w eaknesses in their ability to construct an appropriate situation model . Implications for the instruction of learning-disabled students are d iscussed.