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Background: This article synthesizes literature that compares the academic, cognitive, and behavioral performance of children with and without reading disabilities (RD). Forty-eight studies met the criteria for the meta-analysis, yielding 735 effect sizes (ESs) with an overall weighted ES of 0.98. Results: Small to high ESs in favor of children without RD emerged on measures of cognition (rapid naming [ES = 0.89], phonological awareness [ES = 1.00], verbal working memory [ES = 0.79], short-term memory [ES = 0.56], visual–spatial memory [ES = 0.48], and executive processing [ES = 0.67]), academic achievement (pseudo word reading [ES = 1.85], math [ES = 1.20], vocabulary [ES = 0.83], spelling [ES = 1.25], and writing [ES = 1.20]), and behavior skills (ES = 0.80). Hierarchical linear modeling indicated that specific cognitive process measures (verbal working memory, visual–spatial-memory, executive-processing, and short term memory) and intelligence measures (general and verbal intelligence) significantly moderated overall group effect size differences. Conclusion: Overall, the results supported the assumption that cognitive deficits in children with RD are persistent.

Keywords: Reading disorder, Educational function, Cognitive function, Behavioral function

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