Cerebral dominance in disabled readers, good readers, and gifted children: search for a valid model

A group of 10 reading-disabled children with average intelligence were compared with 11 good readers of average intelligence and 12 academically accelerated, gifted children on their recognition of words presented tachistoscopically under simultaneous, bilateral viewing conditions. The poor readers were inferior in right-field performance compared with the gifted children and good readers. With IQ as a covariate, the poor readers produced a higher left-field score and a lower visual-field difference score in comparison with the gifted children. It is argued that the skills needed to become literate are not isomorphic biologically with general linguistic competence. The results suggest (1) that reading acquisition involves enhanced left-hemisphere decoding of written language and (2) that reading disability is related to the prevalence of a right-hemisphere-based perceptual coding strategy.