Family shortcomings or other intrinsic psychological deficits are frequently viewed as contributing factors to the social misperceptiveness frequently seen in children with learning disabilities. This article attempts to synthesize research defining the social problems of some children with learning disabilities. Particularly emphasized is the role of communication skills deficits. Breakthroughs in neurophysiology negate, to a large extent, traditional emphases on family dysfunction, school failure, or personality distrubances as primary causes of the social problems of some children with LD. Advances in vision and language research allow departure from the social paradigm of the "misperceptive syndrome" to consider constitutionally based hypotheses of neural dysfunction. Neural aberrations are viewed as triggering deficient language processing, which in turn may lead to unsatisfactory social interactions. Several correlates and characteristics of family, school, and environmental systems are discussed in the context of their impact on personality development and on changes in the life adjustments of both children and adults with learning disabilities.

The examination of subtest scores on the Wechsler Intelligence Scale is needed to provide confirmatory evidence for various subtest categorizations as there is no consensus about what patterns might be diagnostically useful. The present study supports the use of the ACID/AVID profiles (Arithmetic, Coding or Vocabulary, Information, and Digit Span) as elements in the diagnosis of dyslexia. WISC-R scores from 44 subjects were analyzed for specific subtest patterns of scores which might separate dyslexic individuals from the WISC-R standardization group. Perhaps some WISC-R ACID/AVID profile pattern analyses may be valid in the diagnosis of a stringently defined population of learning disabled individuals such as dyslexic children.

This present study furthers research on perceptual differences between dyslexics and normal readers which is contrary to the current linguistic approaches to this problem. Specifically, thresholds of light intensity for small retinal areas were examined. As hypothesized, the peripheral retinas of proficient readers evidenced lower thresholds than the peripheral retinas of dyslexic readers. These results are consistent with Grosser and Spafford's previous research which showed that dyslexics were better able to detect colors with their peripheral retinas than proficient readers. This research lends support to the premise that dyslexics' retinas have unusually high cone density in the periphery. Additional research is warranted to improve both diagnosis and treatment of dyslexia.

The early evidence for, and later evidence against, theories which consider waking, sleep, and dreaming as discrete states is presented. The newer tonicphasic model is reviewed. Support for it is drawn from research on the behavior of the central nervous system (CNS), autonomic nervous system (ANS), musculature, and mentation as observed during the various stages of sleep. The neurophysiological basis of tonic-phasic events is summarized. The advantages of the tonic-phasic model over a three-state model are that only the former can accommodate both (a) the heterogeneity of Stage-REM events and ( 6) the continuity of certain phenomena throughout all sleep stages. The conclusion is drawn that, while the older model was valuable in generating research and methodological innovations, these very developments have made it obsolete. The tonic-phasic model is not only better suited to the present state of knowledge, but also promises to be a valuable guide for further research.

Two sets of letters, i.e., those subject to reversal/rotation such as b, d, p, and q, and others, e, i, u, w, x, and o, were tachistoscopically presented singly to 15 normal readers (aged 6 to 14 yr.) and 29 dyslexic children (aged 7 to 13 yr.). Half the presentations were subject to masking by visual noise. Contrary to a prediction based on temporal-sequencing deficiency, the dyslexics required a significantly longer time than normals for recognition. This occurred under both the masked and non-masked conditions. Reversible/rotational letters gave more difficulty than other letters only when masked, for both normals and dyslexics. This supports the hypothesis that these letters have no special relation to dyslexia. The view that dyslexia is a developmental anomaly was supported by the finding of a significant correlation between recognition-speed and age for the normal readers only.