Abstract:

It is well – established that many students with Learning Disabilities (LD) face considerable difficulties in reading decoding and comprehension. These difficulties may escalate into major obstacles in the case of texts with special features, like poems. However, research on the difficulties encountered by students with LD when dealing with poems is extremely scant. In the present study, then, 5th and 6th grade primary students with and without LD were compared regarding their ability to process and interpret poems, in order for the differences between the groups to be pinpointed and the profile of poem understanding of student with LD to be delineated. Participants were 40 typical students and 40 students with LD who were asked to answer a series of questions on two poems that they read themselves or were read to them. According to the main results, students with LD face considerable difficulties in determining a poem’s main idea, and in specifying relationships between various poem’s parts and dimensions. Additionally, they present problems in identifying rhyme and metaphors. Moreover, their knowledge of poem styles is poor. In contrast, students with LD deal rather successfully with recognizing personalization, verifying hypotheses on poem’s content based on its title, and connecting poems’ content with their personal experiences. Finally, it was found that students with and without LD differ in the evoked emotions after poem reading. The results are discussed in terms of possible causes and instructional implications of the difficulties encountered by students with LD when dealing with poems.

Keywords:

Poetry comprehension, Poetry elaboration, Learning Disabilities.