This chapter re views recent em pirical evidence for universal and ortho graph y-or lang uage -spe cific pr oces ses in the develo pme nt of ba sic reading skills in school age children, su ggesting that universal and ortho graph y-or lang uage -spe cific pr oces ses sho uld b e cons idere d in tandem. T he review focu ses on three d ifferent aspects o f reading, pho nol ogi ca l pr oc ess ing, rap id n am ing, and mo rp hos ynta cti c co mp lex ity, targeted in recent research on development of word recognition skills. Studies on L1 school children and studies of children who learn to read concurrently in their L1 and/or in a second language (L2) are examined within the context of variations in orthographic transparency. When children learn to read, characteristics of the spoken language interact with characteristics of the orthography. The chapter concludes that (a) ind ivid ua l dif fer enc es i n ph ono log ica l pr oc ess ing s kills , ve rb al m em or y, and rapid naming predict the development of reading in L1 and L2 children in various alphabetic and nonalphabetic languages; and (b) individual differe nces o n such p rere quisite skills can ind icate s moo th or p roble matic acquisition of L2 r eading skills in children, regardless o f oral language prof iciency. Ho wever , task d eman ds ass ociate d with le arning to read in different orthogr aphies vary and yield steepe r or mor e mode rate learning slopes. Regardless of the language and orthography combinations under study, children can develop reading strategies that help them read.