IS THERE A VISUAL DEFICIT IN DYSLEXIA RESULTING FROM A LESION OF THE RIGHT POSTERIOR PARIETAL LOBE

Dyslexia has conventionally been attributed to a left hemisphere defic it affecting language skills. However, it has recently been suggested that two-thirds of dyslexic people have a lesion of the right posterio r parietal lobe (RPPL) resulting in poor oculo-motor control. It has b een reported that neurological patients with RPPL lesions commonly man ifest a neglect of the left side of space and this has also been descr ibed in clinical observations of 'visual dyslexics'. We investigated t his hypothesis with a sample of 53 dyslexic children and 53 controls u sing a line-bisection task. In the horizontal test condition both grou ps tended to transect slightly to the left of the midpoint (mean displ acement 0.14 mm for controls; 0.4 mm for dyslexics). The result sugges ts a small right side neglect which, contrary to one report in the lit erature, is found here in developmental dyslexics as well as controls, and leads to the conclusion that RPPL lesion is unlikely to be a comm on feature of dyslexia.