WISC characteristics of reading disabled children identified by three objective methods.

The WISC and Spache Reading Diagnostic Scales were administered to 119 third-grade children. Groups of reading disabled children were selected by three objective methods (Below Grade Level, Bond and Tinker, and the Erickson Z-score Discrepancy). The Below Grade Level and Bond and Tinker methods tended to identify the same children whose IQs and reading achievement scores were below average. The Z-score method identified children with IQs at or above the group average. Comparison of the poor readers with control groups matched for IQ and sex gave only minimal evidence for WISC subtest patterns as characteristic of poor readers.