Final answer:
Visual-motor skills and visual-spatial reasoning are the least correlated with reading comprehension in children as they play a supplementary role compared to direct language-related skills.
Step-by-step explanation:
The skills least correlated with reading comprehension in children are visual-motor skills and visual-spatial reasoning.
These skills involve the coordination of visual perception with body movements (such as using scissors to cut paper shapes, which is an example of fine motor skills) and the ability to understand visual information in space (related to Gardner's Multiple Intelligences, like spatial intelligence).
While they are important in their own right, these skills are less directly involved in the process of understanding written text compared to spelling and writing, oral language skills, and word-reading accuracy and fluency.
For example, a child with dyslexia may struggle with letter-sound correspondence and word-reading accuracy, which are more directly related to reading comprehension issues.
Answer choices a, b, and c (spelling and writing, oral language skills, word-reading accuracy and fluency) are directly linked to the ability to understand and process written language, which is essential for reading comprehension.
In contrast, visual-motor and visual-spatial skills (choice d) play a more supplementary role.