| One hundred and five elementary and middle school students from a rural East Tennessee school district were evaluated using a new test of dyslexia, the Test of Dyslexia and Dysgraphia (TODD; McCallum & Bell, 1999). The TODD includes cognitive measures presumed to underlie reading. Also, reading achievement was assessed using the TODD, and for 73 of the students, by an end-of-year group administered test, the Terra Nova.; When cognitive variables were entered into Multiple Regression Analyses using reading achievement scores as criteria, Phonological Awareness was the strongest predictor of all criterion measures with the range of variance accounting for from 76% to 21%. That is, phonological awareness predicted Letter-Word Calling, Decoding, Reading Comprehension, and Terra Nova Spelling and Reading Composite scores. Phonological awareness was the only significant predictor of Decoding and Terra Nova Reading Composite. However, when age was partialled out, the Reading Composite was significantly predicted by phonological awareness followed by visual processing, while Decoding was significantly predicted by phonological awareness followed by auditory memory. When age is not partialled out, phonological awareness, rapid automatic naming, visual processing, auditory processing, and auditory memory significantly predicted Letter-Word Calling in that order. When age is controlled for, phonological awareness, auditory processing and visual memory significantly predicted Letter-Word Calling in that order. When age is uncontrolled, phonological awareness was the best predictor of Reading Comprehension and rapid automatic naming, visual processing and auditory memory account for additional variance, respectively. When controlling for age, phonological awareness is the best predictor of Reading Comprehension, and auditory processing and visual memory predict all additional variance, respectively. Phonological awareness and auditory processing significantly predicted Terra Nova Spelling regardless of controlling for age. However, with age partialled out, visual memory added additional variance.; These results are commensurate with current research emphasizing the predominance of phonological awareness and support the relative importance of rapid automatic naming, auditory memory and processing, and visual memory and processing in explaining the acquisition of beginning reading. Teachers of reading will find these results useful in understanding and designing curricula to develop the basic building blocks of reading. |
