4. Developmental dyslexia—prevailing diagnostic concepts and a new diagnostic approach

Abstract

There is growing interest in differentiating developmental dyslexia,1 as a specific psychoneurological learning disorder, from nonspecific reading retardation. Such differentiation has immediate practical bearing since spe cific dyslexia calls for remedial reading techniques that are not required in the management of nonspecific reading disorders. Moreover, early diag nosis of developmental dyslexia is essential for successful remediation and to prevent school failure with concomitant loss of self-esteem. The need for practical direct diagnostic criteria that would facilitate the early identification of developmental dyslexia has come into the fore front. This need is felt especially by physicians and psychologists, who are often the first to be consulted about the child's inability to read. It is also recognized that the diagnosis cannot be relevant to the educator unless it has immediate implications for remediation. The objectives of this paper are: (1) to present a critical review of pre vailing diagnostic concepts of developmental dyslexia and (2) to briefly describe three atypical patterns of reading and spelling, revealed through