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…

A theoretical framework is presented for understanding difficulties in foreign language learning, based upon a linguistic coding model that hypothesizes deficits in phonological, syntactic, and semantic information processing. Incidence of linguistic coding problems in 22 college-enrolled or college-bound students who petitioned to have the…

This paper discusses five language roots of reading: phonology, syntax, semantics, short-term and long-term memory, and auditory segmenting. Teachers are urged to focus early school experiences toward development of these five skills to reduce the incidence of reading difficulties. Specific teaching suggestions are offered. (Author/DB)

The Orton-Gillingham method, a multisensory structured language approach which adheres to the direct and explicit teaching of phonology, is presented as an alternative instructional strategy for dyslexic/learning-disabled or other "at risk" students learning a second language. A method for adapting this approach to teaching Spanish is…