Reading disability subtypes in neurologically-impaired students

Three studies were conducted in order to determine if reading disability subtypes identified by Mattis, Boder, and Doehring were present in neurologically-impaired students with and without reading disabilities. The anomic-language disorder subtype, dysphonetic and mixed dysphonetic-dyseidetic subtypes, and Doehring's three subtypes were all present, primarily in the reading-disabled sample. Subtypes related to visual-spatial impairment were equally or more apparent in the non-reading-disabled sample. It is concluded that the visual-perceptual disorder subtypes may reflect neurological impairment but be unrelated to reading disability. It remains tenable to hypothesize that the other subtypes found may reflect the ways in which neurological impairment interferes with reading and that subtle neurological impairment may be present in dyslexic students who fall into the same subtypes.