Reading comprehension in children at risk of learning difficulties

The aim of this thesis was to evaluate the level of reading comprehension in children at risk of developing grammar difficulties. The main goal consisted of assessing the performance and children's success in two experimental groups (with impaired speech development and the familial risk of dyslexia) and one control group (individuals with typical speech development) at the Test of Reading Comprehension based on the YARC diagnostic scale (Hulme et al., 2009). Additionally, we also observed the performance of children throughout a longer period of time. Consequently, it enabled us to compare the performance of children in the original test with the results of the Test of Reading and Comprehension by M. Caravolas and J. Volín (2005), which was administered two years later. Further analysis reveal that the individuals with the impaired speech development performed significantly worse than the children with familial risk of dyslexia whose performance was very much on the same level as the ones with typical speech development. Additionally, we found out that the performance of children in terms of comprehension does not change significantly during their development. The results of this study may be beneficial both for specialists and parents who may obtain a better understanding of their children's..