ABSTRACT
Investigators associated with the Colorado Learning Disabilities Research Center (CLDRC) have been exploring genetic and environmental influences on reading and related skills since 1979. From the beginning, our selection of measures and theoretical framework has been strongly influenced by the phonological deficit hypothesis. Thus, we are deeply grateful to Don Shankweiler and his colleagues for their pioneering theoretical and empirical contributions that emphasized the importance of phonological skills in learning to read. Their generous consultation on the development of our initial test battery supported our inclusion of several experimental measures of phonological awareness and decoding that have played an important role in our behavior-genetic and intervention research over the past 30 years. This chapter provides an overview of results from the CLDRC that largely support the phonological deficit hypothesis and also suggest the need for some revision of the hypothesis and its implications for intervention.
