Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-fscjk Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-23T03:45:55.012Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

Dyslexia: The evolution of a scientific concept

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 July 2009

JACK M. FLETCHER*
Affiliation:
Department of Psychology, University of Houston, TMC Annex, Houston, Texas
*
*Correspondence and reprint requests to: Jack M. Fletcher, Department of Psychology, University of Houston, TMC Annex, 2151 West Holcombe Boulevard, 222 TMC Annex, Houston, Texas 77204-5053. E-mail: [email protected]

Abstract

In the past 25 years, scientific understanding of dyslexia and other learning disabilities has seen rapid progress in domains involving definition and classification, neuropsychological correlates, neurobiological factors, and intervention. I discuss this progress, emphasizing the central organizing influence of research and theory on basic academic skills on identification and sampling issues. I also emphasize how neuropsychological approaches to dyslexia have evolved and the importance of an interdisciplinary perspective for understanding dyslexia. (JINS, 2009, 15, 501–508.)

Type
Short Review
Copyright
Copyright © The International Neuropsychological Society 2009

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

REFERENCES

Ben-Shachar, M., Dougherty, R.F., & Wandell, B.A. (2007). White matter pathways in reading. Current Opinion in Neurobiology, 17, 258270.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Benton, A.L. (1975). Development dyslexia: Neurological aspects. In Friedlander, W.J. (Ed.), Advances in neurology (Vol. 7, pp. 147). New York: Raven Press.Google Scholar
Connor, C.M., Morrison, F.J., Fishman, B.J., Schatschneider, C., & Underwood, P. (2007). Algorithm-guided individualized reading instruction. Science, 315, 464465.Google Scholar
Critchley, M. (1970). The dyslexic child. Springfield, IL: Charles C. Thomas.Google Scholar
Denckla, M.B., Rudel, M.B., Krieger, R.G., & Chapman, J. (1985). Motor proficiency in dyslexic children with and without attentional disorders. Archives of Neurology, 42, 228231.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Doehring, D.G. (1978). The tangled web of behavioral research on developmental dyslexia. In Benton, A.L. & Pearl, D. (Eds.), Dyslexia: An appraisal of current research (pp. 123137). New York: Oxford.Google Scholar
Fletcher, J.M., Lyon, G.R., Fuchs, L.S., & Barnes, M.A. (2007). Learning disabilities: From identification to intervention. New York: Guilford.Google Scholar
Fletcher, J.M. & Vaughn, S. (2009). Response to intervention: Preventing and remediating academic deficits. Child Development and Perspectives, 3, 3037.Google Scholar
Francis, D.J., Fletcher, J.M., Stuebing, K.K., Lyon, G.R., Shaywitz, B.A., & Shaywitz, S.E. (2005). Psychometric approaches to the identification of LD: IQ and achievement scores are not sufficient. Journal of Learning Disabilities, 38, 98108.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Francis, D.J., Shaywitz, S.E., Stuebing, K.K., Shaywitz, B.A., & Fletcher, J.M. (1996). Developmental lag versus deficit models of reading disability: A longitudinal, individual growth curves analysis. Journal of Educational Psychology, 88, 317.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Fuchs, L.S. & Fuchs, D. (1998). Treatment validity: A unifying concept for reconceptualizing the identification of learning disabilities. Learning Disabilities Research and Practice, 13, 204219.Google Scholar
Grigorenko, E.L. & Naples, A.J. (in press). The devil is in the details: Decoding the genetics of reading. In McCardle, P. & Pugh, K. (Eds.), Helping children learn to read: Current issues and new directions in the integration of cognition, neurobiology and genetics of reading and dyslexia. New York: Psychological Press.Google Scholar
Hale, J.B., Fiorello, C.A., Miller, J.A., Wenrich, K., Teodori, A.M., & Henzel, J. (2008). WISC-IV assessment and intervention strategies for children with specific learning disabilities. In Prifitera, A., Saklofske, D.H., & Weiss, L.G. (Eds.), WISC-IV clinical assessment and intervention (2nd ed., pp. 109171). New York: Elsevier.Google Scholar
Hoskyn, M. & Swanson, H.L. (2000). Cognitive processing of low achievers and children with reading disabilities: A selective meta-analytic review of the published literature. School Psychology Review, 29, 102119.Google Scholar
Jorm, A.F., Share, D.L., MacLean, R., & Matthews, R. (1986). Cognitive factors at school entry predictive of specific reading retardation and general reading backwardness: A research note. Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry and Allied Disciplines, 27, 4554.Google Scholar
Liberman, A.L. (1997). How theories of speech affect research in reading and writing. In Blachman, B.A. (Ed.), Foundations of reading acquisition and dyslexia: Implications for early intervention (pp. 319). Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum.Google Scholar
Liberman, I.Y. & Shankweiler, D. (1991). Phonology and beginning reading: A tutorial. In Rieben, L. & Perfetti, C.A. (Eds.), Learning to read: Basic research and its implications (pp. 317). Hillsdale, NJ: Erlbaum.Google Scholar
Lyon, G.R. (1999). In celebration of science in the study of reading development, reading difficulties, and reading instruction: The NICHD perspective. Issues in Education: Contributions from Educational Psychology, 5, 85115.Google Scholar
Lyon, G.R., Shaywitz, S.E., & Shaywitz, B.A. (2003). A definition of dyslexia. Annals of Dyslexia, 53, 114.Google Scholar
Mann, L. (1979). On the trail of process. New York: Grune & Stratton.Google Scholar
Meyler, A., Keller, T.A., Cherkassky, V.L., Gabrieli, J.D.E., & Just, M.A. (2008). Modifying the brain activation of poor readers during sentence comprehension with extended remedial instruction: A longitudinal study of neuroplasticity. Neuropsychologia, 46, 25802592.Google Scholar
National Institute of Child Health and Human Development. (2000). Report of the National Reading Panel. Teaching children to read: An evidence-based assessment of the scientific research literature on reading and its implications for reading instruction (NIH Publication No. 00–4769). Washington, DC: U.S. Government Printing Office.Google Scholar
Pennington, B.F. (2009). Diagnosing learning disorders: A neuropsychological framework (2nd ed.). New York: Guilford Press.Google Scholar
Pennington, B.F., McGrath, L.M., Rosenberg, J., Barnard, H., Smith, S.D., Willcutt, E.G., Friend, A., DeFries, J.C., & Olson, R.K. (2009). Gene × environment interactions in reading disability and attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder. Developmental Psychology, 45, 7789.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Price, C.J. & McCrory, E. (2005). Functional brain imaging studies of skilled reading and developmental dyslexia. In Snowling, M.J. & Hulme, C. (Eds.), The science of reading: A handbook (pp. 473496). Oxford, UK: Blackwell Publishing.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Rayner, K., Foorman, B.R., Perfetti, C.A., Pesetsky, D., & Seidenberg, M.S. (2002). How psychological science informs the teaching of reading. Psychological Science in the Public Interest, 2, 3174.Google Scholar
Reschly, D.J. & Tilly, W.D. (1999). Reform trends and system design alternatives. In Reschly, D., Tilly, W., & Grimes, J. (Eds.), Special education in transition (pp. 1948). Longmont, CO: Sopris West.Google Scholar
Rodgers, B. (1983). The identification and prevalence of specific reading retardation. The British Journal of Educational Psychology, 53(3), 369373.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Rourke, B.P. (1975). Brain-behavior relationships in children with learning disabilities: A research program. The American Psychologist, 30, 911920.Google Scholar
Rutter, M. (1982). Syndromes attributed to “minimal brain dysfunction” in childhood. The American Journal of Psychiatry, 139, 2133.Google ScholarPubMed
Rutter, M., Caspi, A., Fergusson, D., Horwood, L.J., Goodman, R., Maughn, B., Moffitt, T.E., Meltzer, H., & Carroll, J. (2004). Sex differences in developmental reading disability. New findings from 4 epidemiological studies. The Journal of the American Medical Association, 291, 20072012.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Rutter, M. & Yule, W. (1975). The concept of specific reading retardation. Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry and Allied Disciplines, 16(3), 181197.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Samuelsson, S., Olson, R., Wadsworth, S., Corley, R., DeFries, J., Willcutt, E., Hulsander, J., & Byrne, B. (2007). Gene and environmental influences on prereading skills and early reading and spelling development in the United States, Australia, and Scandinavia. Reading and Writing, 20, 5171.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Shavelson, R. & Towne, L. (2002). Science and education. Washington, DC: National Academy of Sciences.Google Scholar
Shaywitz, B.A., Shaywitz, S.E., Blachman, B.A., Pugh, K.R., Fulbright, R.K., Skudlarski, P., Mencl, W.E., Constable, R.T., Holahan, J.M., Marchione, K.E., Fletcher, J.M., Lyon, G.R., & Gore, J.C. (2004). Development of left occipitotemporal systems for skilled reading children after a phonologically-based intervention. Biological Psychiatry, 55, 926933.Google Scholar
Shaywitz, S.E., Escobar, M.D., Shaywitz, B.A., Fletcher, J.M., & Makuch, R. (1992). Evidence that dyslexia may represent the lower tail of a normal distribution of reading ability. The New England Journal of Medicine, 326, 145150.Google Scholar
Simos, P.G., Fletcher, J.M., Bergman, E., Breier, J.I., Foorman, B.R., Castillo, E.M., Fitzgerald, M., & Papanicolaou, A.C. (2002). Dyslexia-specific brain activation profile becomes normal following successful remedial training. Neurology, 58, 12031213.Google Scholar
Stanovich, K.E. (2000). Progress in understanding reading. New York: Guilford.Google Scholar
Stuebing, K.K., Barth, A.E., Cirino, P.T., Francis, D.J., & Fletcher, J.M. (2008). A response to recent re-analyses of the National Reading Panel Report: Effects of systematic phonics instruction are practically significant. Journal of Educational Psychology, 100, 123134.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Stuebing, K.K., Barth, A.E., & Fletcher, J.M. (in press). IQ is not strongly related to response to reading instruction: A meta-analytic interpretation. Exceptional Children.Google Scholar
Stuebing, K.K., Fletcher, J.M., LeDoux, J.M., Lyon, G.R., Shaywitz, S.E., & Shaywitz, B.A. (2002). Validity of IQ-discrepancy classifications of reading disabilities: A meta-analysis. American Educational Research Journal, 39(2), 469518.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Torgesen, J.K., Alexander, A.W., Wagner, R.K., Rashotte, C.A., Voeller, K.K.S., & Conway, T. (2001). Intensive remedial instruction for children with severe reading disabilities: Immediate and long-term outcomes from two instructional approaches. Journal of Learning Disabilities, 34, 3358.Google Scholar
U.S. Department of Education. (2004). Individuals with Disabilities Improvement Act of 2004, Public Law. 108-466. Federal Register, 70, 3580235803.Google Scholar
U.S. Department of Education. (2006). 34 CFR Parts 300 and 301. Assistance to states for the education of children with disabilities and preschool grants for children with disabilities final rule. Federal Register, 71, 4659046845.Google Scholar
U.S. Office of Education. (1977). Assistance to states for education for handicapped children: Procedures for evaluating specific learning disabilities. Federal Register, 42, G1082G1085.Google Scholar
Vellutino, F.R., Fletcher, J.M., Snowling, M.J., & Scanlon, D.M. (2004). Specific reading disability (dyslexia): What have we learned in the past four decades? Journal of Child Psychiatry and Psychology and Allied Disciplines, 45, 240.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Willcutt, E.G., Pennington, B.P., Olson, R.K., Chhabildas, N., & Huslander, J. (2005). Neuropsychological analyses of comorbidity between reading disability and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder: In search or the common deficit. Developmental Neuropsychology, 27, 3578.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed