How Should Reading Disabilities Be Operationalized? A Survey of Practicing School Psychologists

School psychologists' perceptions of how reading disabilities (RD) should be operationalized were examined and compared to those of journal editorial board members in the learning disabilities field (Speece & Shekitka, 2002). Participants were practicing school psychologists drawn from the membership directory of the National Association of School Psychologists (NASP). The sample consisted of 549 participants and was generally representative of the demographic characteristics of NASP membership at large. Results indicated that over 75% of participants endorsed using treatment validity/response to intervention (RTI), cognitive processing, and phonemic awareness as components of RD operationalization. A large percentage (61.9%) also endorsed use of an IQ-achievement discrepancy criterion. Statistically significant differences were found between the endorsements of this study's participants and those in the Speece and Shekitka (2002) study, with our participants reporting higher endorsement of RTI, cognitive processing, and IQ-achievement discrepancy criteria.