GERMAN-SPEAKING STUDIES ON INTERVENTION O F READING AND WRITING DISORDERS - A REVIEW OF RECENT TRENDS OF INVESTIGATION

Since the strong criticism of the research on dyslexia at the end of t he seventies and the collapse of research activities on this problem t he scientific background of research on reading-writing-difficulties ( RWD) has evolved. The development of models of literacy, the knowledge about the process relevant subskills (e.g. phonological awareness) as well as the fundamentals of the learning theory have improved signifi cantly. This review explores, if and how the German-speaking RWD inter vention research of the eighties and early nineties has taken these de velopments into account. As one result of this analysis studies could be found that in fact took into consideration aspects of literacy as w ell as learning theoretical aspects. Such a procedure seems most proba bly to result in positive intervention effects. In addition, the metho dological quality of the existing studies is discussed, the small amou nt of intervention studies is pointed out, and conclusions for further RWD intervention research are drawn.