title: Reading comprehension on the last grades of cicles I and II of elementary school.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To characterize students' performance in Cycle I and II of the Elementary School (EF), in decoding, reading comprehension and underlying skills of reading, and investigate correlations between these variables, in the absence and presence of reading comprehension deficits, identified by their teachers.
  
  
  METHODS
  125 students from ES were grouped according to Cycle and presence or absence of reading comprehension impairments. Two Control (good readers from both Cycles) and two Research groups (poor readers from both Cycles) were established. Assessment involved: fluency and reading comprehension; oral comprehension; working and short-term phonological memory; grammar closure. It was compared (Mann-Whitney test): in intragroup study, both Control and Research groups; in intergroup study, Control and Research from different cycles, and Control I and Research II. Spearman coefficient investigated correlations.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Analyzing reading comprehension, we observed better performance of Control Groups in all tasks in comparison to the respective Research Groups, and better performance of Control II in comparison to Control I. Research Groups had similar results in most tests. Positive correlations have been observed between most of the variables.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Students without reading comprehension impairments showed better performance in reading in both Cycles. Working memory and oral comprehension did not differentiate students with and without complaints in Cycle I, differently from what was observed in Cycle II. Research II presented similar or better performance than Research I and similar or worse performance than Control I. Underlying skills showed different profiles of correlation with reading comprehension capacity, according to the group.
authors.affiliation: Department of Speech-Language Pathology and Audiology, Escola Paulista de Medicina, Universidade Federal de São Paulo, São Paulo, SP, Brazil.
authors.forename: Eliane Mi
authors.initials: EM
authors.lastname: Chang
authors.affiliation: Department of Speech-Language Pathology and Audiology, Escola Paulista de Medicina, Universidade Federal de São Paulo, São Paulo, SP, Brazil.
authors.forename: Clara Regina Brandão de
authors.initials: CR
authors.lastname: Avila
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D001938:Brazil; D016022:Case-Control Studies; D002648:Child; D032882:Comprehension; D004521:Educational Measurement; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007859:Learning Disabilities; D008297:Male; D017150:Public Sector; D011932:Reading; D012959:Socioeconomic Factors; D013334:Students