Predicting Reading Failure.

TLDR

The study examines the value of psychological tests for predicting dyslexia in children, amid debate over a unitary maturational lag hypothesis versus evidence of focal or diffuse central nervous system damage in many dyslexic cases. The authors aim to assess the predictive validity of linguistic and nonlinguistic tests for dyslexia. They compared two groups of 53 children each—one with normal IQ and no sensory or psychiatric deficits, the other premature—to evaluate test performance.

Abstract

This book is concerned with an attempt to determine which psychological tests might be of value in predicting dyslexia in children. Two principal series of patients were examined, consisting of 53 children with normal intelligence quotients and without gross sensory or psychiatric deficit, and 53 prematures. The predictive value of various tests, both linguistic and nonlinguistic, is discussed. It is probable that the objections of most neurologists to the present study will not be based on any denial of the importance of the subject, or on any denial of the authors' assiduity. What seems more doubtful is their tendency to bring together most cases of dyslexia under the umbrella of a unitary hypothesis, that of a maturational lag. Many of the cases of dyslexia seen by clinical neurologists show other evidence of focal or diffuse central nervous system damage such as hyperactivity or epilepsy: Others may represent genetic or psychiatric