Reading Disorders in Children

To the Editor:—  The importance of your editorial on reading disorders in children may not be fully appreciated by physicians (206:638, 1968). Authorities agree that about 10% of children (mostly boys) have some degree of specific reading disability or developmental dyslexia while only 3% are mentally retarded and about 5% have some speech disorder. Although reading disability is largely a problem for our schools, physicians are frequently called upon to participate in the diagnosis and recommendations. Yet many physicians are quite vague in their knowledge about reading disability.Your editorial helped to clarify the "diametrically opposed" concepts concerning developmental dyslexia. Much of the confusion arises from the fact that the majority of physicians, educators, and others think that disabilities in children must be due to either brain damage or emotional and environmental factors. For them it must be one or the other and they overlook or reject the possibility