Reading, Writing and Speech Problems in Children.

Abstract

In previous publications Orton was somewhat dogmatic concerning strephosymbolia. The concept was his brain child, frequently challenged and rejected, and therefore in need of defense. In the present volume polemic has been largely abandoned, facts and opinions are offered in conservative formulations. Orton reviews his previous overstatements in a spirit of engaging frankness. He dwells at length on the faulty technic of testing employed in his studies at the Iowa State Psychopathic Hospital and revokes implicitly and explicitly many of his former conclusions. Strephosymbolia as a clinical entity is still overstressed, but the strong accentuation of dominance, which was previously a characteristic of Orton's teaching, is now tempered. Crossed, mixed and undecided patterns are freely cited. As it has long been suspected, the intergrades seem to predominate over the "pure" types. Indeed, instances of the "pure" form are so few that the account of the intergrades occupies the major part