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Two studies examined the effectiveness of the PASS (Planning, Attention, Simultaneous, and Successive cognitive processes) theory of intelligence in predicting reading achievement scores of normally achieving children and distinguishing children with reading disabilities from normally achieving children. The first study dealt with predicting reading vocabulary and comprehension scores. Subjects, 74 children in grades 4 and 5 from 4 schools in Kingston, Ontario, Canada, were given a subset of PASS tests. Results indicated that: simultaneous and successive processing were the main predictors of reading; simultaneous was more related to comprehension than to vocabulary; and planning and attention were less related to reading skills in normally achieving children. In the second study, four groups of children in Peterborough, Ontario, Canada, were given the same set of PASS tests with the addition of speech rate. The groups were 15 grade 4/5 average-IQ learning disabled (LD); 15 high-IQ LD grade 4/5 children; chronological age (CA) group comprised of 15 normally achieving children from the same grade 4/5 classrooms as the LD subjects; and 15 reading age grade 2 students reading at the same level as the LD students. Results indicated that: the average-IQ LD children were remarkably similar to normally achieving children who were approximately 3 years younger; the high-IQ LD performed generally better than the average-IQ LD, and about as well as their CA matches; and successive processing was the area that best discriminated the learning disabled from normally achieving children. Findings support PASS as a framework to guide screening, assessment, and remediation of difficulties in reading. (Three tables and one figure of data are included.) (RS)