Skip to main content

Dyslexia

  • Living reference work entry
  • First Online:
Encyclopedia of Clinical Neuropsychology

Synonyms

Developmental dyslexia; Learning disorders; Specific reading disability

Short Description or Definition

Dyslexia is defined as an unexpected difficulty in accuracy or fluency of reading for an individual’s chronological age, intelligence, level of education, or professional status. Dyslexia is, at its core, a problem with phonological processing, that is, getting to the elemental sounds of spoken language, affecting both spoken and written language (Shaywitz 1996, 2003). Recent evidence provides empiric support for defining dyslexia as an unexpected difficulty in reading (Ferrer et al. 2010). Furthermore, longitudinal data indicate that in typical readers, intelligence and reading track together are dynamically linked. In contrast, in dyslexic readers, intelligence and reading are quite separate and are not dynamically linked. Based on dynamic models, the uncoupling of reading and cognition observed demonstrate that in the special case of dyslexia, a child or adult can be...

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this chapter

Institutional subscriptions

References and Reading

  • Bloomfield, L. (1933). Language. New York: Holt, Rinehart and Winston.

    Google Scholar 

  • Duncan, D. (2009). Scientist at work: Eric Schadt, enlisting computers to unravel the true complexity of disease. New York Times.

    Google Scholar 

  • Ferrer, E., Shaywitz, B., Holahan, J., Marchione, K., & Shaywitz, S. (2010). Uncoupling of reading and IQ over time: Empirical evidence for a definition of dyslexia. Psychological Science, 21(1), 93–101.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Foorman, B. R., Brier, J. I., & Fletcher, J. M. (2003). Interventions aimed at improving reading success: An evidence-based approach. Developmental Neuropsychology, 24, 613–639.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Francis, D., Shaywitz, S., Stuebing, K., Shaywitz, B., & Fletcher, J. (1996). Developmental lag versus deficit models of reading disability: A longitudinal, individual growth curves analysis. Journal of Educational Psychology, 88(1), 3–17.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Grigg, W., Donahue, P., & Dion, G. (2007). The nation’s report card: 12th-grade reading and mathematics 2005. Washington, DC: U.S. Government Printing Office.

    Google Scholar 

  • Lerner, J. (1989). Educational interventions in learning disabilities. Journal of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, 28, 326–331.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Marzola, E., & Shepherd, M. (2005). Assessment of reading difficulties. Baltimore: Brookes.

    Google Scholar 

  • Mascheretti, S., De Luca, A., Trezzi, V., Peruzzo, D., Nordio, A., Marino, C., & Arrigoni, F. (2017). Neurogenetics of developmental dyslexia: From genes to behavior through brain neuroimaging and cognitive and sensorial mechanisms. Translational Psychiatry, 7(1), e987. https://doi.org/10.1038/tp.2016.240.

    Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  • Meaburn, E., Harlaar, N., Craig, I., Schalkwyk, L., & Plomin, R. (2008). Quantitative trait locus association scan of early reading disability and ability using pooled DNA and 100K SNP microarrays in a sample of 5760 children. Molecular Psychiatry, 13, 729–740.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Morris, R. D., Stuebing, K. K., Fletcher, J. M., Shaywitz, S. E., Lyon, G. R., Shankweiler, D. P., et al. (1998). Subtypes of reading disability: Variability around a phonological core. Journal of Educational Psychology, 90, 347–373.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Pennington, B., & Gilger, J. (1996). How is dyslexia transmitted? In C. H. Chase, G. D. Rosen, & G. F. Sherman (Eds.), Developmental dyslexia. Neural, cognitive, and genetic mechanisms (pp. 41–61). Baltimore: York Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Perie, M., Grigg, W., & Donahue, P. (2005). National assessment of educational progress: The nation’s report card reading 2005. Washington, DC: National Center for Education Statistics.

    Google Scholar 

  • Peterson, R. L., & Pennington, B. F. (2012). Developmental dyslexia. Lancet, 379(9830), 1997–2007. https://doi.org/10.1016/s0140-6736(12)60198-6.

    Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  • Ramus, F., Rosen, S., Dakin, S., Day, B., Castellote, J., White, S., et al. (2003). Theories of developmental dyslexia: Insights from a multiple case study of dyslexic adults. Brain, 126, 841–865.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Report of the National Reading Panel. (2000). Teaching children to read: An evidence based assessment of the scientific research literature on reading and its implications for reading instruction (Vol. NIH Pub. No. 00-4754). Washington, DC: U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Public Health Service, National Institutes of Health, National Institute of Child Health and Human Development.

    Google Scholar 

  • Shaywitz, S. (1996). Dyslexia. Scientific American, 275(5), 98–104.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Shaywitz, S. (2003). Overcoming dyslexia: A new and complete science-based program for reading problems at any level. New York: Alfred A. Knopf.

    Google Scholar 

  • Shaywitz, S. E., & Shaywitz, B. A. (2008). Paying attention to reading: The neurobiology of reading and dyslexia. Development and Psychopathology, 20, 1329–1349.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Shaywitz, S., Fletcher, J., & Shaywitz, B. (1994). Issues in the definition and classification of attention deficit disorder. Topics in Language Disorders, 14(4), 1–25.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Shaywitz, S., Fletcher, J., Holahan, J., Shneider, A., Marchione, K., Stuebing, K., et al. (1999). Persistence of dyslexia: The Connecticut longitudinal study at adolescence. Pediatrics, 104(6), 1351–1359.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Shaywitz, B., Shaywitz, S., Pugh, K., Mencl, W., Fulbright, R., Skudlarski, P., et al. (2002). Disruption of posterior brain systems for reading in children with developmental dyslexia. Biological Psychiatry, 52(2), 101–110.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Stanovich, K., & Siegel, L. (1994). Phenotypic performance profile of children with reading disabilities: A regression-based test of the phonological-core variable-difference model. Journal of Educational Psychology, 86(1), 24–53.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Torgesen, J., Wagner, R., Rashotte, C., Rose, E., Lindamood, P., Conway, T., et al. (1999). Preventing reading failure in young children with phonological processing disabilities. Journal of Educational Psychology, 91, 579–593.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Woollams, A. M. (2013). Connectionist neuropsychology: Uncovering ultimate causes of acquired dyslexia. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society, B: Biological Sciences, 369(1634). https://doi.org/10.1098/rstb.2012.0398.

    Article  Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

Authors

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Sally E. Shaywitz .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

Copyright information

© 2018 Springer International Publishing AG, part of Springer Nature

About this entry

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this entry

Shaywitz, S.E., Shaywitz, B.A. (2018). Dyslexia. In: Kreutzer, J., DeLuca, J., Caplan, B. (eds) Encyclopedia of Clinical Neuropsychology. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-56782-2_1543-2

Download citation

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-56782-2_1543-2

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Publisher Name: Springer, Cham

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-319-56782-2

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-319-56782-2

  • eBook Packages: Springer Reference Behavioral Science and PsychologyReference Module Humanities and Social SciencesReference Module Business, Economics and Social Sciences

Publish with us

Policies and ethics