Special education figures show that less than 25 percent of children in special education were identified as learning disabled before 1980. By 1993, this figure increased to more than 50 percent. Ninety percent of these children have problems with the development of decoding skills. 74 percent of children who are poor readers in the third grade remain poor readers in the ninth grade. Slow, inaccurate decoding is the best predictor of poor reading comprehension.
Comprehension depends on decoding and other skills.
But regardless of the cause, the primary problems occur at the level of the single word. Fletcher serves as acting director of the UT-Houston Center for Academic and Reading Skills. Programming must begin in kindergarten with emphasis on reading instruction all the way through elementary school and, if necessary, secondary school. No matter how bright the child and how interesting the reading material, a child will not learn to read unless he or she understands how print is translated into sound.