ABSTRACT
The Glenn Doman-Carl Delacato programmes for language remediation are based on the premise that the brain needs to be strongly 'lateralised' in order to function efficiently in this domain. Reading disability, therefore, is caused by a lack of hemispheric dominance. This chapter examines the theoretical basis for such assumptions and presents the scientific evidence both for and against. It examines the evidence for a relationship between 'mixed' laterality and language disability. The evolution of a spoken language, it will be recalled, was consequent upon the evolution of sidedness — a dominant hand and a dominant hemisphere. Delacato reported two studies in support of the idea that reading disability was caused by incomplete lateralisation. The chapter describes Delacato's views on the evolutionary emergence of writing and reading skills, and how these were intimately related to the development of eye-dominance at close range.
