Inferential reading abilities of mildly mentally retarded and nonretarded students

The inferential operations of mildly mentally retarded students reading at the intermediate level were investigated using methods based on discourse comprehension theory. We hypothesized that problems encountered in reading by these students are related to difficulties in generating logical inferences. Mildly retarded junior-high students and nonretarded third-grade students of the same reading comprehension level read and recalled a descriptive expository and a narrative passage. On the expository passage mildly retarded students generated the same quantity of inferences as did nonretarded students, but the inferences were qualitatively inferior. On the narrative passage the differences between the two groups were not significant. These findings were discussed in relation to the cognitive functioning of mildly retarded students.