Reading Disability Secondary to Attention Deficit Disorder: A Neglected Syndrome

Abstract

Schemes for classifying reading disabilities have focused too narrowly on deficiencies in reception, analysis and storage of sensory information. An expanded view of the cognitive deficits that may produce reading disabilities is proposed. A case is made for recognising the possible role of primary deficiencies in attention in the production of reading disabilities, particularly in young children in the initial stages of learning to read. A simple taxonomy of reading disabilities based on the underlying cognitive deficits causing the disorder is proposed. Diagnostic criteria are presented for differentiating reading disabilities due to sensory information processing deficits from disabilities due to attentional deficits, including: standardised tests, qualitative analyses of performance on reading and non-reading tasks, behaviour observations, and response to remediation.

Descriptors::

• Reading disability
• attention deficit
• psychoeducational diagnosis
• learning disabilities