Developmental dyslexia revisited and projected

There are three parts to this paper. First, I review briefly the signposts from research, theory, and application in developmental dyslexia in the 1960s and the 1970s that have led us from there to here, and show the pitfalls to avoid. Second, I discuss some of the pertinent issues of the 1980s: the role of intelligence in the diagnosis of children with specific reading disabilities, the distribution of reading difficulties and disabilities, and the important place of verbal efficiency. Third, I project to the 1990s to emphasize the challenge of the computer technology as mediated learning and the challenge of "bounded rationality" and "collective rationality" in education. Throughout this survey, the paramount role of knowledgeable and caring teachers is implicit.