On the irrelevance of intelligence in predicting responsiveness to reading instruction

There is increasingly negative sentiment against IQ-achievement discrepancy as a method to identify children with learning disabilities (LD) and, more broadly, intelligence as an explanation of poor academic performance. The evidence for this latter view was examined by re viewing 13 studies involving 1,542 children who were at risk or reading disabled to determine whether IQ predicted responsiveness to reading intervention. In 8 of the 13 studies, it accounted for unique variance. It was a stronger and more consistent predictor among older students in interventions designed to strengthen reading comprehension; a weaker and less consistent predictor among younger children in phonological awareness training. Implications are discussed for the identification and treatment of students with LD and the LD construct.