History of writing and its relevance for the linguistic disorder in dyslexia: Discussion paper

Abstract

The aim of this paper is to clarify the nature of the psychological deficits which underlie the learning disorders known as dyslexia. The presentation will be divided into three parts: The first clinical descriptions of disorders of reading: The early authors supposed that the underlying deficit was one of visual perception or 'word-blindness', a view which is no longer tenable. A review of the history of writing: Writing is man-made. Some scripts were more successful than others in terms of their endurance and dissemination. If we assume that there were good reasons for writing developing along a given pathway, we should gain insight into the nature of man's cognitive and linguistic attributes which determined this pathway. An examination of possible linguistic deficits in dyslexia: The evidence is reviewed that dyslexic subjects are impaired in the very cognitve and linguistic faculties to which the perfected written scripts became adapted. Throughout this paper the term 'dyslexia' is used rather than other more or less synonymous terms which have been applied to learning disorders of reading. This personal preference is justified because 'dyslexia' has the merits of being short, euphonious and established through common usage.