ABSTRACT
The goal of this chapter is to provide an overview of the neurocognitive bases of developmental dyslexia,a developmental reading disorder. The traditional definition of developmental dyslexia assumed that such individuals had reading skills at a level substantially below age level (e.g., 2 years below) in the face of otherwise normal intelligence, sensory, and language functioning, an environment adequate to support the acquisition of reading skills, and sufficient motivation to acquire reading skills (e.g., Rutter & Yule, 1975). More recently, a number of the assumptions underlying this view have been challenged. For example, it has been suggested that specific problems in reading occur even in the absence of a significant discrepancy between reading skills and overall IQ (e.g., Siegel, 1989, 1998). Furthermore, as discussed later in this chapter, certain aspects of language functioning, such as the ability to identify the individual sounds in words, are seriously compromised in children with specific reading disabilities. At present, the definition of developmental dyslexia is in a state of fux. What appears to be the cardinal symptom however, is an inability to acquire the skills involved in reading.
