This study investigated the extent to which children’s knowledge about reading disabilities, preoccupation with their own reading disability, and anxiety predicted reading comprehension in fifth and sixth grade children with reading disabilities (N = 85). Participants provided rich and accurate information about reading disabilities and the academic and emotional implications of having a reading disability. Children’s knowledge about the characteristics of reading disabilities was positively associated with reading comprehension, and preoccupation with their own disability was negatively associated with reading comprehension. Girls reported higher levels of preoccupation and anxiety than boys did. In addition to gender, children’s reading comprehension, trait anxiety, and perceptions of their mothers’ worry about their reading disabilities predicted their preoccupation with their own disability. Children with the most adaptive profile in terms of reading comprehension and anxiety were those who had high levels of knowledge and low levels of preoccupation with their disability.
Aarnoutse, C., Van Leeuwe, J., Voeten, M., & Oud, H. ( 2001). Development and decoding, reading comprehension, vocabulary, and spelling during the elementary school years. Reading and Writing, 14, 61-89.
2.
Adams, L. ( 2002). Perceived self-efficacy and cognitive rumination. Unpublished doctoral dissertation, Southern Illinois University, Carbondale.
3.
American Psychiatric Association. (1994). Diagnostic and statistical manual of mental disorders (4th ed.). Washington, DC: Author .
4.
Barrett, P.M. ( 1998). Evaluation of cognitive-behavioral group treatments for childhood anxiety. Journal of Clinical Child Psychology, 27, 45-68.
5.
Beidel, D.C., & Turner, S.M. ( 1997). At risk for anxiety: I. Psychopathology in the offspring of anxious parents. Journal of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, 36, 918-924.
6.
Belloch, A. ( 2003). Dimensions of the self-consciousness scale and their relationship with psychopathological indicators. Personality and Individual Differences, 35, 829-841.
7.
Ben-Artzi, E. ( 2003). Factor structure of the private self-consciousness scale: Role of item wording. Journal of Personality Assessment, 81, 256-264.
8.
Ben-Artzi, E., & Humburger, Y. ( 2002). Private self-consciousness subscales: Correlations with extraversion, and self-discrepancy. Imagination, Cognition and Personality, 21(1), 21-31.
9.
Berninger, V.W. ( 2008). Defining and differentiating dysgraphia, dyslexia, and language learning disability within a working memory model. In M. Mody & E. R. Silliman (Eds.), Brain, behavior, and learning in language and reading disorders (pp. 103-134). New York, NY: Guilford.
10.
Bolger, D.J., Balass, M., Landen, E., & Perfetti, C.A. (2008). Contextual variation and definitions in learning the meanings of words. Discourse Processes , 45, 122-159.
11.
Breznitz, Z. ( 2006). Fluency in reading: Synchronization of processes. Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum.
12.
Brinker, J.K. ( 2009). Ruminative thought style and depressed mood. Journal of Clinical Psychology, 65, 1-19.
13.
Broderick, P. ( 1998). Early adolescent gender differences in the use of ruminative and distracting coping strategies. Journal of Early Adolescence , 2, 173-191.
14.
Burwell, R.A. ( 2005). A cognitive-emotional model of rumination: Underpinnings of adolescent depression. Unpublished doctoral dissertation, University of Denver.
15.
Cain, K., & Oakhill, J.V. ( 2007). Preface. In K. Cain & J. V. Oakhill (Eds.), Children’s comprehension problems in oral and written language (pp. xi-xv). New York, NY: Guilford.
16.
Cain, K., Oakhill, J.V., Barnes, M.A., & Bryant, P.E. ( 2001). Comprehension skill, inference making ability and their relation to knowledge. Memory and Cognition, 29, 850-859.
17.
Cain, K., Oakhill, J., & Bryant, P. ( 2004). Children’s reading comprehension ability: Concurrent prediction by working memory, verbal ability, and component skills. Journal of Educational Psychology, 96, 31-42.
18.
Cain, K., Oakhill, J.V., & Lemmon, K. ( 2004). Individual differences in the inference of word meanings from context: The influence of reading comprehension, vocabulary knowledge and memory capacity. Journal of Educational Psychology, 96, 671-681.
19.
Chapman, J.W., & Tunmer, W.E. ( 1995). Development of young children’s reading self-concepts: An examination of emerging subcomponents and their relationship with reading achievement. Journal of Educational Psychology, 87, 154-167.
20.
Chapman, J.W., & Tunmer, W.E. ( 2003). Reading difficulties, reading-related self-perceptions, and strategies for overcoming negative self-beliefs. Reading and Writing Quarterly, 19, 5-24.
21.
Cosden, M., Brown, C., & Eliot, K. ( 2002). Development of self-understanding and self-esteem in children and adults with learning disabilities. In B. Wong & M. Donahue (Eds.), The social dimensions of learning disabilities: Essays in honor of Tanis Bryan (pp. 33-52). Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum.
22.
Cosden, M., Eliot, K., Noble, S., & Kelemen, E. ( 1999). Self-understanding and self-esteem in children with learning disabilities. Learning Disability Quarterly, 22, 279-290.
23.
Fenigstein, A., Scheier, M.F., & Buss, A.H. ( 1975). Public and private self-consciousness: Assessment and theory. Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 43, 522-527.
24.
Fink, R.P. ( 1995). Successful dyslexics: A constructivist study of passionate interest reading. Journal of Adolescent and Adult Literacy , 39, 268-280.
25.
Fletcher, J.M., Foorman, B.R., Boudousquie, A., Barnes, M.A., Schatschneider, C., & Francis, D.J. ( 2002). Assessment of reading and learning disabilities: A research based intervention-orientated approach. Journal of School Psychology, 40, 27-63.
26.
Gabriele, M., Mucci, M., Favilla, L., Brovedani, P., Millepiedi, S., & Perugi, G. ( 2003). Temperament in adolescents with anxiety and depressive disorders and in their families. Child Psychiatry and Human Development, 33, 245-259.
27.
Gee, J.P., Michaels, S., & O’Connor, M.C. (1992). Discourse analysis . In M. LeCompte & J. Goetz (Eds.), The handbook of qualitative research in education (pp. 228-191). New York, NY: Academic Press.
28.
Gerber, P.J., & Reiff, H.B. ( 1991). Speaking for themselves: Ethnographic interviews with adults with learning disabilities. Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press.
29.
Gluck, M.A., Anderson, J.R., & Kosslyn, S.M. ( 2008). Category learning as schema induction. In M. A. Gluck, J. R. Anderson , & S. M. Kosslyn (Eds.), Memory and mind: A festschrift for Gordon H. Bower (pp. 307-326). Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum.
30.
Goldberg, R.J., Higgins, E.L., Raskind, M.H., & Herman, K.L. ( 2003). Predictors of success in individuals with learning disabilities: A qualitative analysis of a 20-year longitudinal Study. Learning Disabilities Research and Practice, 18, 222-236.
31.
Hadwin, J.A., Brogan, J., & Stevenson, J. ( 2005). State anxiety and working memory in children: A test of processing efficiency theory. Educational Psychology, 25, 379-393.
32.
Harari, Y. ( 2000). Tfisot atsmiyot vee’strategyot hitmodedut shel mitbagrim im lakut kriaa: Koloteyhem shel 15 talmidey tichon. [Self perceptions and coping strategies of adolescents with reading disability: The voices of 15 high school students]. Unpublished master’s thesis, Tel Aviv University, Israel.
33.
Headland, T. N., Pike, K. L., & Harris, M. (Eds.). (1990). Emics and etics: The insider/outsider debate. Frontiers of anthropology (Vol. 7). Newbury Park, CA: Sage.
34.
Hertel, P.T. ( 1998). Relation between rumination and impaired memory in dysphoric moods. Journal of Abnormal Psychology, 107, 166-172.
35.
Heyman, W.B. ( 1990). The self-perception of learning disability and its relationship to academic self-concept and self-esteem. Journal of Learning Disabilities, 23, 472-475.
36.
Hutchins, L., & Patterson, F. ( 2008). Mindfulness meditation may lessen anxiety, promote social skills, and improve academic performance among adolescents with learning disabilities . Complementary Health Practice Review, 13, 34-45.
37.
Jones, E.E., Farina, A., Hastorf, A.H., Markus, H., Miller, D.T., & Scott, R. ( 1984). Social stigma: The psychology of marked relationships . New York, NY: Freeman.
38.
Kalyuga, S. ( 2006). Rapid cognitive assessment of learners’ knowledge structures. Learning and Instruction, 16, 1-11.
39.
Kate, B., Buddug, W., Iredale, R., France, L., & Gray, J. ( 2006). Psychological distress in men with breast cancer. Journal of Clinical Oncology, 24, 95-101.
40.
Kfir, A.T., & Ben-Simon, A. ( 1996). Scientific report for grade 4 achievements in the National Reading Comprehension Test. Jerusalem, Israel: National Institute for Testing and Evaluation.
41.
Kingree, J.B., & Ruback, R.B. ( 1996). Reconceptualizing the private self consciousness subscale . Social Behavior and Personality, 24, 1-8.
42.
Klassen, R. ( 2002). A question of calibration: A review of self-efficacy beliefs of students with learning disabilities. Learning Disability Quarterly, 25, 88-103.
43.
Kopleman, L.M., & Moskop, J.C. ( 1989). Children and health care: Moral and social issues. Boston, MA: Kluwer.
44.
Kos, R. ( 1991). Persistence of reading disabilities: The voice of four middle school students. American Educational Research Journal , 28, 875-895.
45.
Kronenberger, W.G., & Mayer, R.G. ( 2001). The child clinician’s handbook. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Allyn & Bacon.
46.
Leonard, H.L. ( 1993). Child and adolescent psychiatric clinics of North America . Philadelphia, PA: W. B. Saunders .
47.
Levy, G. ( 1999). A multi-case study in the middle school: Complexities among young adolescent readers. Reading Research Quarterly , 34, 172-192.
48.
Lewandowski, L. ( 1994). The social adjustment and self-concept of adults with learning disabilities. Journal of Learning Disabilities, 27, 598-605.
49.
Lieblich, A., Ben Shachar-Segev, N., & Ninio, A. (Eds.). (1976). WISC-R (Hebrew translation). Jerusalem, Israel: Ministry of Education and Culture .
50.
Lyon, G.R., Shaywitz, S.E., & Shaywitz, B.A. (2003). A definition of dyslexia . Annals of Dyslexia, 53, 1-14.
51.
Lyubomirsky, S., Kasri, F., & Zehm, K. ( 2003). Dysphoric rumination impairs concentration on academic tasks. Cognitive Therapy and Research, 27, 309-330.
52.
Lyubomirsky, S., Tucker, K.L., Caldwell, N.D., & Berg, K. ( 1999). Why ruminators are poor problem solvers: Clues from the phenomenology of dysphoric rumination. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 77, 1041-1060.
53.
Lyytinen, P., Puttonen, H., Poikkeus, A., Laakso, M., & Ahonen, T. ( 1994). Mother-child teaching strategies and learning disabilities . Journal of Learning Disabilities, 27, 186-192.
54.
Major, B., & O’Brien, L.T. (2005). The social psychology of stigma. Annual Review of Psychology, 56, 398-421.
55.
Manassis, K. ( 2000). Childhood anxiety disorders: Lessons from the literature . Canadian Journal of Psychiatry, 45, 724-730.
56.
Manis, F., Seidenberg, M.S., & Doi, L. ( 1999). See Dick RAN: Rapid naming and the longitudinal prediction of reading sub-skills in first and second graders. Journal of the Society for the Scientific Study of Reading, 3, 129-157.
57.
McCray, A.D., Vaughn, S., & Neal, L.V.I. ( 2001). Not all students learn to read by third grade: Middle school students speak out about their reading disabilities. Journal of Special Education, 35, 17-30.
58.
Meyer, S. ( 2000). The ability-achievement discrepancy: Does it contribute to an understanding of learning disabilities? Educational Psychology Review, 12, 315-335.
59.
Miles, B., & Huberman, A.M. (1994). Qualitative data analysis: An expanded sourcebook. London, UK: Sage.
60.
Nation, K., Clarke, P., Marshall, C.M., & Durand, M. ( 2004). Hidden language impairments in children: Parallels between poor reading comprehension and specific language impairment? Journal of Speech , Language, and Hearing Research, 47, 199-211.
61.
National Assessment of Educational Progress. ( 2009). The nation’s report card. Retrieved from http://nces.ed.gov/nationsreportcard
62.
National Institute for Testing and Evaluation. ( 1996-1997). A scientific report of achievement in the National Literacy and Language Standardized Test. Jerusalem, Israel: Author.
63.
National Reading Panel. (2000). Teaching children to read. Retrieved from http://www.nationalreadingpanel.org/
64.
Nystedt, L., & Ljungberg, A. ( 2002). Factors of private and public self-consciousness: Construct and discriminate validity. Journal of Personality, 16, 143-159.
65.
Oakhill, J.V., & Cain, K. ( 2004). The development of comprehension skills. In T. Nunes & P. E. Bryant (Eds.), Handbook of literacy (pp. 155-180). Dordrecht, Netherlands: Kluwer.
66.
Papageorgiou, C., & Wells, A. ( 2001). Positive beliefs about depressive rumination: Development and preliminary validation of a self report scale. Behavior Therapy, 32, 13-26.
67.
Pennebaker, J.W. ( 1993). Social mechanisms of constraint. In D. M. Wegner & J. W. Pennebaker (Eds.), Handbook of mental control (pp. 200-219). Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice Hall.
68.
Perrin, E.C., & Garrity, P.S. ( 1981). There’s a demon in your belly: Children’s understanding of illness. Pediatrics, 67, 841-849.
69.
Prior, M., Sanson, A., Smart, D., & Oberklaid, F. ( 1999). Relationships between learning difficulties and psychological problems in preadolescent children from a longitudinal sample. Journal of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, 36, 1020-1032.
70.
Programme for International Student Assessment. ( 2009). Pisa- The OECD Programme for International Student Assessment . Retrieved from http://www.oecd.org/dataoecd/51/27/37474503
71.
Reetz, L.J., & Hoover, J.H. ( 1992). The acceptability and utility of five reading approaches as judged by middle school LD students. Learning Disabilities Research and Practice, 7, 11-15.
72.
Riddick, B., Sterling, C., Farmer, M., & Morgan, S. ( 1999). Self-esteem and anxiety in the educational histories of adult dyslexic students. Dyslexia, 5, 227-248.
73.
Rothman, H.R., & Cosden, M. ( 1995). The relationship between self perception of a learning disability and achievement, self-concept, and social support. Learning Disability Quarterly, 18, 203-212.
74.
Scandell, D.J. ( 2001). Is self-reflectiveness an unhealthy aspect of private self-consciousness? Journal of Psychology, 135, 451-462.
75.
Scardamalia, M., & Bereiter, C. ( 1983). Child as co-investigator: Helping children gain insight into their own mental processes. In S. Paris, G. Olson, & H. Stevenson (Eds.), Learning and motivation in the classroom (pp. 61-82). Hillsdale, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum.
76.
Schwartzer, R., & Weiner, B. ( 1991). Stigma controllability and coping as predictors of emotions and social support. Journal of Social and Personal Relationships , 8, 133-140.
77.
Schwarzer, R., & Wicklund, R. A. (Eds.). (1991). Anxiety and self-focused attention. Chur, Switzerland: Harwood .
78.
Shankweiler, D. & Fowler, A.E. ( 2004). Questions people ask about the role of phonological processes in learning to read. Reading and Writing: An Interdisciplinary Journal, 17, 483-515.
79.
Shankweiler, D., & Liberman, A.M. (1989). Phonology and reading disability: Solving the reading puzzle. Research Monograph Series. Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press.
80.
Shany, M., & Biemiller, A. ( 1995). Assisted reading practice: Effects on performance for poor readers in grades 3 and 4. Reading Research Quarterly , 30, 382-395.
81.
Shany, M., Lachman, D., Shalem, Z., Bahat, A., & Zeiger, T. ( 2006). Alef ad Taf: Ma’arechet le’ivhun likuyim be-ta’alichey kria u-ktiva al pi normot artziyot [Aleph-Taph-A test for the diagnoses of reading and writing disabilities, based on national Israeli norms]. Tel Aviv, Israel: Yesod .
82.
Shaywitz, S.E., Gruen, J.R., & Shaywitz, B.A. (2008). Dyslexia: A new look at neural substrates. In M. Mody & E. R. Silliman (Eds.), Brain, behavior, and learning in language and reading disorders (pp. 209-239). New York, NY : Guilford.
83.
Snowling, M. ( 2000). Is preschool language impairment a risk factor for dyslexia in adolescence? Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry and Allied Disciplines, 41, 587-600.
84.
Spekman, N.J., Goldberg, R.J., & Herman, K.L. ( 1992). Learning disabled children grow up: A search for factors related to success in the young adult years. Learning Disabilities Research and Practice, 7, 161-170.
85.
Spielberger, C.D. ( 1976). The nature and measurement of anxiety. In C. D. Spielberger & R. Diaz-Guerrero (Eds.), Cross-cultural research on anxiety (pp. 11-23). Washington, DC: Hemisphere Wiley.
86.
Spielberger, C.D., Edwards, C.D., Lushene, R.E., Monturoi, J.E., & Platzek, D. ( 1973). Preliminary test manual for the State-Trait Anxiety Inventory for Children. Palo Alto, CA: Consulting Psychologists Press.
87.
Stanovich, K.E. ( 1986). Matthew effects in reading: Some consequences of individual differences in the acquisition of literacy. Reading Research Quarterly, 21, 360-407.
88.
Stone, C.A., Bradley, K., & Kleiner, J. ( 2004). Parental understanding of children with language learning disabilities and its role in the creation of scaffolding opportunities. In B. Wong & M. Donahue (Eds.), The social dimensions of learning disabilities: Essays in honor of Tanis Bryan (pp. 133-160). Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum.
89.
Tychman, J., & Melnick, H. ( 1979). She’elon leha’arachat charada matsavit ve’charada tchunatit [A questionnaire for the evaluation of state anxiety and trait anxiety] . Tel Aviv, Israel: Tel Aviv University , Department of Psychology.
90.
Vassilopoulos, S.P. ( 2008). Social anxiety and ruminative self-focus. Journal of Anxiety Disorders, 22, 860-867.
91.
Walsh, T.M., Stewart, S.H., McLaughlin, E., & Comeau, N. ( 2004). Gender differences in Childhood Anxiety Sensitivity Index (CASI) dimensions. Journal of Anxiety Disorders, 18, 695-706.
92.
Watkins, E. ( 2003). Appraisals and strategies associated with rumination and worry. Personality and Individual Differences, 37, 679-694.
93.
Weiner, B., Perry, R.P., & Magnusson, J. ( 1988). An attributional analysis of reactions to stigmas. Journal of Personal and Social Psychology, 55, 738-748.
94.
Willcutt, E.G., & Pennington, B.F. (2000). Psychiatric co-morbidity in children and adolescents with reading disability. Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry, 41, 1039-1048.
