Comprehension is the ultimate aim of reading and listening. How do children develop the ability to comprehend written and spoken language, and what can be done to help those who are having difficulties? This book presents cutting-edge research on comprehension problems experienced by children without any formal diagnosis as well as those with specific language impairment, autism, ADHD, learning disabilities, hearing impairment, head injuries, and spina bifida. Providing in-depth information to guide research and practice, chapters describe innovative assessment strategies and identify important implications for intervention and classroom instruction. The book also sheds light on typical development and the key cognitive skills and processes that underlie successful comprehension.

Kate Cain, DPhil, is a Reader in the Department of Psychology at Lancaster University. Her research and publications focus on the development of language comprehension in children, with a particular interest in the skill deficits that lead to comprehension problems. Dr. Cain's recent journal articles report investigations into the relations that exist between children's reading comprehension and their inference-making skill, knowledge of narrative structure, interpretation of figurative language, vocabulary-learning mechanisms, and memory processes. She is an Associate Editor of the International Journal of Language and Communication Disorders and the Journal of Research in Reading.
Jane Oakhill, DPhil, is a Professor of Experimental Psychology at the University of Sussex. Since completing her doctorate on the topic of children's problems in reading comprehension, she has worked on various research projects--including deductive reasoning in children and adults, circadian variations in human performance, and adult language comprehension--but has always maintained a research interest in children's reading comprehension, particularly individual differences. Dr. Oakhill has published widely on children's reading comprehension. In 1991 she received the British Psychological Society's Spearman Medal; she was elected to a Fellowship of the Society in 2005.

I. Comprehension Processes and Impairments in Typically Developing Children

1. Introduction to Comprehension Development, Jane Oakhill and Kate Cain

2. Reading Comprehension Difficulties: Correlates, Causes, and Consequences, Kate Cain and Jane Oakhill

II. Comprehension Impairments in Children with Developmental Disorders

3. Comprehension Difficulties in Children with Specific Language Impairment and Pragmatic Language Impairment, Nicola Botting

4. Language Comprehension Difficulties in Children with Autism Spectrum Disorders, Susan Leekam

5. Story Comprehension Impairments in Children with Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder, Elizabeth P. Lorch, Kristen S. Berthiaume, Richard Milich, and Paul van den Broek

6. Reading Comprehension and Working Memory in Children with Learning Disabilities in Reading, H. Lee Swanson, Crystal B. Howard, and Leilani Sáez

III. Comprehension Impairments in Association with Neurological Damage and Sensory Impairment

7. Comprehension in a Neurodevelopmental Disorder, Spina Bifida Myelomeningocele, Marcia A. Barnes, Amber M. Johnston, and Maureen Dennis

8. Impaired Discourse Gist in Pediatric Brain Injury: Missing the Forest for the Trees, Lori G. Cook, Sandra B. Chapman, and Jacquelyn F. Gamino

9. The Comprehension of Skilled Deaf Readers: The Roles of Word Recognition and Other Potentially Critical Aspects of Competence, Leonard P. Kelly and Dragana Barac-Cikoja

IV. Conclusions

10. Cognitive Bases of Children's Language Comprehension Difficulties: Where Do We Go from Here?, Kate Cain and Jane Oakhill