Reading Participation Profiles of School-aged Children: Use of the Inventory of Reading Occupations-Pediatric

An occupational perspective on reading requires an understanding of how individuals engage in terms of reading media selected, level of motivation, amount of time spent in reading, and where and who reading occurs with. These factors are assessed by the Inventory of Reading Occupations-Pediatric (IRO-Pedi), a tool created to measure reading participation in children. The purpose of this descriptive study was to examine reading as an occupation as measured by the Inventory. A secondary analysis was conducted on data collected from 153 children with and without reading difficulties in first through third grade who completed the IRO-Pedi as part of the instrument’s validation study. Major findings were that children engage in a wide variety of reading media. Children with reading difficulties may engage in fewer types of reading media than typical readers. Perceptions of mastery of reading material is more closely related to choice of media type than preference. The home was the most frequently cited setting and the children saw themselves as reading on their own more often than with a reading partner. Insight into how reading presents as an occupation can be applied in designing intervention for reading participation.