ABSTRACT
In a technologically advanced society, in which written language is all pervasive, a certain degree of reading and writing skills is absolutely necessary for survival. General reading backwardness involves problems in both reading comprehension and reading single words as well as low overall intelligence. Specific reading retardation involves problems with both aspects of reading, but normal ability in other respects. Rutter and Yule have used the term general reading backwardness to refer to the child whose reading disability occurs in the context of overall poor performance and the term specific reading retardation to describe the child with a disability specifically in reading. The differing terminology is used depending on whether the primary focus of concern is the reading disability or the spelling disability. The terminology reflects the fact that these children exhibit a difference between their performance at reading comprehension and their performance at reading single words.
