Sohlberg MM, Griffiths GG, Fickas S. An Exploratory Study of Reading Comprehension in College Students After Acquired Brain Injury.
AMERICAN JOURNAL OF SPEECH-LANGUAGE PATHOLOGY 2015;
24:358-373. [PMID:
25763799 DOI:
10.1044/2015_ajslp-14-0033]
[Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/11/2014] [Accepted: 02/23/2015] [Indexed: 06/04/2023]
Abstract
PURPOSE
This exploratory study builds on the small body of existing research investigating reading comprehension deficits in college students with acquired brain injury (ABI).
METHOD
Twenty-four community college students with ABI completed a battery of questionnaires and standardized tests to characterize self-perceptions of academic reading ability, performance on a standardized reading comprehension measure, and a variety of cognitive functions of this population. Half of the participants in the sample reported traumatic brain injury (n = 12) and half reported nontraumatic ABI (n = 12).
RESULTS
College students with both traumatic and nontraumatic ABI cite problems with reading comprehension and academic performance postinjury. Mean performance on a standardized reading measure, the Nelson-Denny Reading Test (Brown, Fischo, & Hanna, 1993), was low to below average and was significantly correlated with performance on the Speed and Capacity of Language Processing Test (Baddeley, Emslie, & Nimmo-Smith, 1992). Injury status of traumatic versus nontraumatic ABI did not differentiate results. Regression analysis showed that measures of verbal attention and suppression obtained from the California Verbal Language Test-II (Delis, Kramer, Kaplan, & Ober, 2000) predicted total scores on the Nelson-Denny Reading Test.
CONCLUSIONS
College students with ABI are vulnerable to reading comprehension problems. Results align with other research suggesting that verbal attention and suppression problems may be contributing factors.
Collapse