The search for subtypes of specific reading disability: Reflections from a cognitive perspective

An overview of the literature on developmental dyslexia is offered, moving historically from attempts to identify a single underlying deficit to more recent efforts to define different subtypes of this developmental disorder. Two approaches to the subtyping problem are illustrated and briefly discussed. It is suggested that many of the remaining questions in dyslexia research could be more profitably addressed within the context of a coherent model of reading behaviour. In the latter half of this review, the potential implications of some aspects of the interactive reading theories for the study of reading dysfunction are explored.