Accuracy of Learning Disabled Students' Self-Prediction of Decoding

Abstract

Two experiments were conducted to investigate LD children's ability to predict and evaluate their own oral decoding performance. In the first experiment, LD and non-LD children predicted whether they could correctly pronounce words which varied in pronounceability, as defined by orthographic structure. Results indicated that non-LD children's predictions were more sensitive to orthographic variations than were those of the LD subjects. In a second experiment subjects were required to predict performance of nonsense words from a standardized reading test, whose items were of graduated difficulty. A “range” was constructed for each child spanning the easiest item on which a child made an error to the most difficult item to which he/she responded correctly. Groups of LD and normal children were established, matched on number of words in a “range” and accuracy within the range. Results tentatively suggested that when words were individualized in this manner, LD children were as competent as non-LD children in predicting and evaluating their own performance.