Profiles of French poor readers: Underlying difficulties and effects of computerized training programs

Three subgroups of poor readers were identified within a sample of French 2nd Graders (n = 258): children with Specific Decoding Difficulty (SDD), children with Specific Comprehension Difficulty (SCD) and children with General Reading Difficulty (GRD). We first compared them on skills related to either decoding or comprehension (or to both reading skills). This analysis showed that although specific underlying difficulties characterized each subgroup (e.g., phonological and decoding difficulties for SDD and vocabulary and monitoring difficulties for SCD), all subgroups showed impaired performance on certain skills (e.g., memory). Second, each subgroup received a computerized training to promote the component of reading for which they initially presented the greatest difficulty (decoding or comprehension). While the decoding training tended to induce more specific improvements in word reading and phonology, the effects of the comprehension training tended instead to be more general. These results are discussed in terms of their pedagogical implications.