Reading Disabilities
Subtopic: All Reading Problems Are Not the Same
It is important to distinguish between Reading Disability and Reading Difficulty. What is the difference?
Reading Disability is primarily cognitive in nature whereas Reading Difficulty can be traced to environmental and emotional factors.
Therefore, they call for different remedial approaches.
Many children in elementary grades fail to make adequate progress in learning how to read and write. The causes of such failure can be many.
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When such poor progress can be attributed to factors such as the child's limited experience with print, hearing and vision problems, lack of motivation, and limited parental
support, it is considered Reading Difficulty.
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When these causes are ruled out, and when the learning problem is limited to written language and does not involve spoken language to the same extent, it is considered Reading Disability or
dyslexia.
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CHARACTERISTIC
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READING DIFFICULTY
(Any of the Following)
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READING DISABILITY
(All of the Following)
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Mental Ability:
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Below-average
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Average or above
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Motivation:
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Not evident
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Motivated
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Interest:
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Little or no interest
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Wants to learn to read
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Vision:
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Has problems
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Normal
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Hearing:
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Has problems
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Normal
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Parental support
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Minimal
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Strong
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Quality of spoken language:
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Below average
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Average or better
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Comprehension of spoken language:
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Subnormal
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Normal
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Basic arithmetic operations:
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Cannot add, subtract, multiply and divide well
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May have difficulty in computational operations, but not in logic
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