Understanding the Role of Reading and Oral Language Skills Growth in Overcoming Reading Comprehension Difficulties

The present longitudinal retrospective study examined in a sample of 123 Greek-speaking children whether the raw score growth in a broad range of oral language and reading skills from Grade 1 to Grade 3 differs among children with persistent reading comprehension difficulties (pRCD; N = 49) identified in Grade 3, those exhibiting a resolving tendency of RCD (rRCD; N = 16), and typically developing (TD; N = 58) children. Children were classified into the respective groups, based on their performance on standardized reading comprehension measures in Grades 1, 2, and 3. They were, also, assessed on phonological awareness, rapid automatized naming (RAN), morphological awareness, vocabulary, word reading accuracy, word reading fluency, and text-reading fluency across the three Grades. Mixed ANOVAs showed that children with pRCD displayed slower growth in morphological awareness, word reading fluency, and text-reading fluency than the other two groups. Children with rRCD did not differ from TD children on these measures, but they exhibited a higher growth on RAN. Both groups of children with RCD outperformed TD children on the growth of phonological awareness and word reading accuracy, whereas no group differences revealed in vocabulary. Our results suggest that more rapid gains in morphological awareness, RAN, word reading fluency, and text-reading fluency over time might be associated with a resolving tendency of reading comprehension difficulties, providing valuable insights for intervention policy.