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This review of attentional processes related to dyslexia examines the nature of the "attention" needed to acquire reading skills and proposes a definition of attention that combines elements of neurobiology and neuropsychology. Evidence for a relationship between reading problems and deficits in auditory and/or visual processing circuitry, which could be labelled "attentional deficits" is then outlined, and the final section reports research on possible underlying causes of the deficits from the fields of visual perceptual processing, neurophysiology, and neuroanatomy, and advances in the field of nonlinear dynamical theory, which may contribute eventually to our understanding of the temporal dynamics of neural systems in which "attention" is currently thought to play a part.

Dyslexics and normal readers aged 9-11 were compared on an inspection time task. Results indicated that dyslexics required significantly longer inspection times. The findings suggested, however, that there was greater individual variation among dyslexics than among normal readers and that the dyslexics benefited from practice to a considerable extent. Inspection times were not significantly related to IQ as measured by a non-verbal test.

The findings from this study of 100 Belfast boys, from age 4 to age 21, carried out from 1975 to 199/ relate to the long-term effects of language intervention on reading, the rates of progress of children who make a poor start and of those who make a good start, the relationship of cognitive and social variables both to the acquisition of reading skill and the use made of reading and the outcomes at age 19-21 for those found to have been good and poor readers at age 6.5. It found that the outcomes of instruction can vary substantiaJly between individuals, suggesting that other factors must be impinging on the outcome. Degrees of social disadvantage can influence preschool development in crucial areassuch as vocabulary and languagedevelopment and familiarity with print. Failure at an early stage in the process can have devastating effects on attitudes and influence future progress.