What is the profile of students who have poor language comprehension but good decoding skills called?

The profile of students who exhibit poor language comprehension while demonstrating proficient decoding skills is known as specific comprehension difficulties. This refers to students who can read words accurately and fluently but struggle to understand the meaning of what they read. Their ability to decode (or sound out words) does not translate to a strong grasp of language concepts or the ability to glean meaning from text.

Such students may successfully recognize and pronounce words but often lack the necessary skills for making inferences, understanding vocabulary in context, or comprehending complex sentence structures. This distinction is crucial as it highlights the different areas of reading challenges, focusing specifically on the comprehension aspect while acknowledging their decoding ability. Understanding this profile helps educators tailor instruction to support the development of comprehension skills, which may include strategies like making connections, summarizing, and questioning.

The other options refer to different profiles or types of reading difficulties, but they do not specifically align with the combination of good decoding and poor comprehension. Specific word recognition difficulties primarily relate to challenges in recognizing words rather than comprehension. Mixed reading difficulties encompass a range of decoding and comprehension issues typically found in varying degrees. Generalized reading difficulties refers more broadly to issues affecting overall reading skills rather than isolating the comprehension aspect.