ABSTRACT
I spend much of my professional life thinking about children who experience difficulties with reading. There is much to think about, for many children do not learn to read as a result of the instruction they experience in the primary grades. By the end of grade 1, it is not at all unusual for 20–30 percent of a class to be behind in reading, most often manifested as difficulties in decoding text. Problems in learning to read during grade 1 predict continuing reading difficulties during the schooling years (see, e.g., Satz, Taylor, Friel, & Fletcher, 1978; Spreen, 1978). Problems in reading during childhood are predictive of poor reading during adulthood (Bruck, 1990, 1992; Finucci, Gottfredson, & Childs, 1985; Fraunheim & Heckerl, 1983; Schonhaut & Satz, 1983; Spreen, 1988).
