Several authors have tried to explain reading disorders by comparing them to acquired dyslexia of different types: phonological (letter-sound coordination disorder), and surface (a disorder in the process of recognizing the word form). In this study we aimed at finding out if the preferred reading process used by children with reading disorders is different from the process used by normal readers. Three subject groups were formed: 20 children in the 3rd and 4th grades with reading disorders (Group 1); 20 children in the 1st grade at the same reading level as the subjects in Group 1 (Group 2); and 20 children in the 3rd and 4th grades of the same chronological age as the subjects in Group 1 (Group 3). The study was based on a reading task and two control tests. The scores achieved revealed that all subjects performed best when reading high-frequency words, and performed worst when reading made up words. Such results indicate that all subjects prefer to use a lexical (non-analytical) procedure. We also learned that Group 1 experienced more difficulty than the other groups to use phonological mediation. However, the results show that there is no difference between reading procedures used by subjects with or without learning disorders. Therefore, we believe that the method of comparing acquired dyslexia and reading disorders is not suitable to theoretically explain this kind of problem.
learning disorders; development dyslexia; reading disorders