Reading Disorder

[Page 2801]Reading disorder refers to a condition in which word decoding, word recognition, reading rate, accuracy, prosody (e.g., tone of voice), and/or reading comprehension are significantly impaired relative to grade-level expectations and given an individual’s chronological age, mental age, educational experience, and physical health. Reading disorders include both developmental reading disorders, which generally present early in education, and acquired alexias, or conditions in which a person who had previously been literate develops a reading-related impairment, often as a result of a brain injury, stroke, or neurodegenerative disease. The term reading disorder, however, is most often applied to developmental reading disorders, frequently characterized using the term dyslexia. Although the terms dyslexia and developmental reading disorder are often used interchangeably, dyslexia refers to a specific type of ...