The psychology of reading and spelling disabilities

Abstract

Originally published in 1983, recent advances in cognitive psychology had revealed that reading and spelling disabilities may be due to deficits in basic cognitive processes. Dr Jorm looks at each type of disability in detail, in relation to normality as well as intellectual disability (formerly called retardation), and finds that the new research provides a useful approach to seemingly intractable problems. He covers a broad range of topics, including the social context of reading disabilities, the role of biological factors, remedial teaching, and prevention of literacy problems. He also gives a forward-looking account of how research at the time on the cognitive processes in comprehension..