This paper examines the influence of Norman Geschwind's model of connectionism, in which complex functions are built up by connecting primary areas in the brain, and notes his studies of the effects of disconnection on dyslexic individuals. Connectionist-based behavioral studies are reviewed, focusing on intracortical association connections and…

Fourteen poor-reading college students were assigned to a dyslexia group or a nonspecific reading-disabled group based on intelligence quotient (IQ). The groups were compared to controls on cognitive and reading-related skills. Results showed that poor decoding skill characterized the dyslexic reader, whereas the nondyslexic poor reader displayed…

Reading disability subtypes were determined in 50 neurologically impaired students (ages 11-19), with and without reading disabilities. Subtypes found primarily in the reading-disabled sample were anomic-language disorder, dysphonetic and mixed dysphonetic-dyseidetic, oral reading deficit, intermodal association deficit, and sequential relations…

The development of reading ability among adults is compared with that of children. Discussed are the characteristics of adults at each developmental level, instruction for skill enhancement, difficulties experienced at various levels, a historical overview of literacy needs and standards, and the growing recognition of dyslexia in adults.…

The headmaster of a private school challenges educators and policymakers to make language central to education for reading-disabled and all children. He looks at current and competing issues in education (such as raising standards and then exempting some students) which are difficult to resolve in a pluralistic society. (DB)

Fifteen exercises are presented that are intended to increase reading comprehension in seventh and eighth graders via emphasis on word recognition, language comprehension (syntax and semantics), and reasoning skills (including inference, analogies, relationships, and direction following). (CL)

The paper reviews the theoretic legacy of the Orton Dyslexia Society, describes a longitudinal study conducted in a large public school system which has proven the effectiveness of the Orton Gillingham system of reading instruction, and underlines the role of educators in the quest for literacy. (JDD)

Reading-disabled children (n=36) in grades four through eight were matched for reading comprehension and placed into two groups based on listening comprehension. Poor readers with normal listening comprehension had average or above intelligence quotients, conforming to the traditional definition of dyslexia and contrasting with poor readers with…

A model for understanding reading, containing three components (orthographic/phonological, morphological, and sentence and paragraph comprehension) was tested with 298 preadolescent readers. Maximum likelihood analyses showed that the model provides a good fit for the grade 4 data, a reasonable fit for grade 5, but was less unambiguous for grade…

Data analysis of 134 twin pairs from the Colorado Reading Project found that approximately 40 percent of the deficit observed in disabled readers is because of genetic factors, 35 percent because of environmental influences shared by twin pairs, and 25 percent because of environmental factors unique to the individual and/or error variance.…

The accuracy of SEARCH for identifying children at risk for developing learning disabilities was evaluated with 1,107 kindergarten children. Children identified as at risk were of average intelligence. SEARCH scores were significantly correlated with sequential and simultaneous information processing skills. SEARCH predicted adequacy of…

The paper discusses (1) sources of difficulty in comprehending technical writing, (2) distinctions between content structure and text structure, (3) building blocks for expository writing and techniques of text design, (4) contrasts between American and Japanese science and social studies texts, and (5) suggestions for promoting comprehension.…

A discussion-oriented, direct approach to teaching decoding and spelling based on word origin and structure is proposed. The instruction leads students to a comparison and contrast of letter-sound correspondences, syllable patterns, and morpheme patterns in English words of Anglo-Saxon, Romance, and Greek origin. (Author/JDD)

The paper discusses problems with traditional definitions of dyslexia and reviews research that suggests a more comprehensive definition, viewing dyslexia as a developmental language disorder that involves a deficit in phonological processing. The disorder is seen as manifesting itself in various phonological difficulties as well as in a specific…

Two experiments sought to determine the orthographic and phonological factors in derived morphology that affected the reading and spelling performance of 75 intermediate-grade poor readers. Subgroups of poor readers used different mechanisms in producing derived or base forms of words according to the complexity of the orthographic and/or…