The effects of rate on single-word reading assessment

The purpose of this study was to examine the effects of introducing rapid stimulus presentation durations while limiting response durations on the decoding profiles of college students with reading disorders.

Eighteen college-aged individuals with typical reading abilities and 12 college-aged adults who exhibited reading difficulties participated. Participants completed a series of 4 experimental word-naming tasks. Two Word Attack subtests and 2 Word Identification subtests were administered while introducing more rapid stimulus presentation durations along with limited response times. Standard scores and response times were collected. Each individual's results were subjected to a subtyping procedure based on relative decoding strengths and weaknesses.

More rapid conditions were associated with higher sight word decoding scores and lower phonological decoding scores. The results indicated that the subtyping patterns differed drastically depending on the presentation conditions.

The authors hypothesize that the experimental conditions potentially yield a more reliable assessment of the 2 independent methods of single-word reading. The ability to subtype or categorize readers on the basis of their relative strengths and weaknesses is highly dependent on the reliability of the measures used to assess those relative strengths and weaknesses.