Using published research data, the problem of the seriously retarded reader was examined to determine the role of vision. The most obvious visual factors such as acuity and refractive error did not seem related to the problem. Impairment of visual skills such as fusion and accommodation did seem to contribute to reading difficulty, but such defects were not primary factors in extreme cases of reading disability. Other visual functions such as form perception, visuo-motor control, and the ability to match visual and verbal configurations might be more closely associated with dyslexia. A bibliography is included. (Author/BS)