READING AND WRITING DIFFICULTIES DO NOT ALWAYS OCCUR AS THE RESEARCHER EXPECTS

Making a prognosis about reading and learning difficulties is a tricky business, even if a large array of relevant variables is taken into a ccount. The present article discusses such an endeavour, on the basis of a longitudinal four-year study which started with an orthodox inter vention on linguistic awareness. However, after initial success, new g roups of reading, writing and math disabled children were identified i n the course of years. Membership of these groups could not always be predicted on the basis of extensive cognitive diagnostics performed du ring the preschool. Rather, the pupil's adaptive behaviour while copin g with the demands of school work emerges as an important prognostic f actor. This was particularly evident in an interaction combining math and reading comprehension in grade 3.