Dyslexia versus garden-variety poor reading: A comparison of phonological and visual processing skills

This study examined whether dyslexic children and garden-variety poor reade rs differ in literacy-related cognitive skills. In a sample of 823 third gr aders, a total of 82 children with low levels of reading and spelling skill s were identified. From these disabled children, 56 were classified as dysl exics (with a nonverbal IQ of at least 85 and beyond), and 26 were classifi ed as garden-variety poor readers (with a nonverbal IQ of less than 85). Th ese children's phonological and visual processing skills were compared with those of a control group of third graders with no reading or spelling prob lems. Similar deficits for both groups of reading or spelling disabled chil dren were found in the phonological processing tasks. In contrast, no group differences were obtained for any of the visual processing tasks. Thus, th e present study suggests that these literacy-related cognitive deficits are not specific for dyslexic children but generalize to garden-variety poor r eaders. Accordingly, the only substantial discrepancy between the two readi ng-disabled groups concerns the general level of intellectual functioning.