The name "short circuit" has been given to this model because, in many ways, it adequately describes what happens bioelectrically in the brain. The "short-circuiting" factors include linguistic, sociocultural, attitudinal and motivational, neurological, perceptual, and cognitive factors. Research is reviewed on ways in which each one affects any child's reading processes and achievement, and how it would affect a child learning a second language. The model attempts to represent why a given reader plays an active role in the reading process and draws out implications with respect to the bilingual child learning to read. The model is represented in an interlocking diagram and the interrelationships of its various parts are explained. (AMH)