Simultaneous and Successive Processing in Reading Disabled Children

Abstract

A group of 105 reading disabled children were administered a battery of tests which assessed simultaneous and successive information processing skills, language and reading processes, and reading achievement. Principal component analyses were carried out in each of the domains, yielding simultaneous and successive processing factors in the information processing domain; miscue, comprehension, and flow factors in the language domain; and miscue, word recognition, and word analysis factors in the reading process domain. Interpretation of these findings and of the relationships between domains indicates that these reading disabled children employed simultaneous processing in reading tasks that normally require successive processing. Analysis of the relationships between these three domains and reading achievement indicates that the expected relationships between the appropriate use of simultaneous and successive processing and reading achievement emerge, but that the factor identified as the inappropriate use of simultaneous processing is less positively related to achievement. These results are discussed in terms of the two probable causes of the overuse of simultaneous processing, a deficit in successive processing, and an inclination not to use it. Suggestions are offered for the design of remedial instruction.