This essay is about the improbable emergence of written language six millennia ago that gave rise to the even more improbable, highly sophisticated reading brain of the twenty-first century. How it emerged and what it comprises--both in its most basic iteration in the very young reader and in its most elaborated iteration in the expert reader--is…

Background: In reading research, children with specific language impairment (SLI) have tended to be included in groups of children expected to have difficulties with both decoding and reading comprehension (generally poor readers). This is because generally children with specific language impairment display difficulties with phonology as well as…

In a comparison of normal readers and dyslexic readers who had been less successful with other late developing rules of oral syntax, both groups demonstrated knowledge of the rules for interpreting adjective complements. The only major difference was that the dyslexic readers were less likely to perform without error. (Author/MJL)