ABSTRACT
In recent years, significant progress has been made in studying the neurobiology of reading development and reading disability with the use of functional neuroimaging techniques. There is substantial converging evidence that skilled word recognition is associated with the development of a highly integrated cortical system that includes left hemisphere dorsal, ventral, and anterior subsystems. This paper highlights key findings regarding the functional role of these regions during skilled reading, the developmental trajectory toward this mature reading circuitry in normally developing children, deviations from this trajectory in reading disabled populations, and the ways in which successful reading remediation alters the brain organization for reading. While a number of important brain/behavior relations have been identified to date, much remains to be done in order to progress from largely descriptive toward potentially explanatory accounts.
