The reliability and validity of a revised version of Finucci's (1982) Readi
ng History Questionnaire was examined in two adult samples. One sample incl
uded 84 adults from an ongoing study of familial dyslexia, and a second sam
ple was composed of parents of 107 children from a longitudinal study of re
ading development. Internal consistency was demonstrated by Cronbach's alph
as of .94 and .92 in the two samples. Test-retest reliability was demonstra
ted by significant correlations (.87 and .84 in the two samples) over sever
al years between an earlier and revised form of the questionnaire. Validity
was demonstrated via (a) correlations between the questionnaire score and
reading measures (rs = .57-.70), (b) the results of a discriminant function
analysis that used questionnaire scores to predict reading disability diag
nosis, and (c) the finding that the questionnaire had substantial increment
al validity in predicting reading skill in a hierarchical regression analys
is that first entered IQ and SES. These results indicated that the question
naire is both reliable and valid.