A review of research examines the relationship between visual perceptual skills and reading achievement using meta-analysis to integrate statistically the results from 161 studies. It was concluded that visual perceptual skills should be included in the complex of factors predictive of reading achievement. (Author)

Scores of 25 learning disabled students (aged 9 to 13) were compared on five tests: a visual-perceptual test (Coloured Progressive Matrices); an auditory-perceptual test (Auditory Motor Placement); a listening and reading comprehension test (Durrell Listening-Reading Series); and a word recognition test (Word Recognition subtest, Diagnostic…

This study tested the role of visual processing speed and IQ in reading with 124 children either with or without reading disability. Results indicated that processing speed explains a significant amount of variance in reading comprehension, as does IQ. Path analyses indicated that the effect of IQ on reading is partially mediated by decoding in…

Forty-three elementary students with learning disabilities in mathematics were administered a variety of measures to examine the relationship between selected language and visuospatial skills and mathematic achievement. (Author/DLS)

The use of a nonvisual tactual and auditory tutorial method to teach initial reading skills to 16 reading disabled children (ages 7 to 14) was evaluated. The method was shown to be less effective than sighted methods. (DB)

Visual and auditory coding processes in learning-disabled students (SLDs, n=19) and control students (SCs, n=19) were examined. Analysis of decision latencies revealed that with initial task exposure, SLDs responded more slowly than SCs, but confusability patterns were similar. With practice, overall latencies became comparable, while…

This study compared children with either attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) (n=24), reading disability (RD) (n=33), both (n=9), or controls. Children with ADHD were characterized by difficulty with a visual search task whereas children with RD had difficulty with an auditory processing task. Specifically, children with ADHD…

An 18-item "Shortened Visuospatial Questionnaire" (SVS) was validated twice, first by verifying that children (ages 8-13) identified with the SVS questionnaire as having visuospatial learning disability (VSLD) (n=54) actually showed visuospatial deficits on psychometric evaluation, and second, by rating with the SVS a clinically identified…

A study compared 11 Italian children (ages 7-11) with nonverbal learning disabilities (NVLD) to 49 controls on four tasks requiring visuospatial working memory and visual imagery. Results found the children with NVLD showed deficits in the use of visuospatial working memory and visual imagery. (Author/CR)

The paper reviewed 15 studies investigating the interaction between perceptual modality preference and method of teaching reading. (Author)

A study involving 93 children (ages 10-12), 295 with poor reading skills, found many children with dyslexia and some garden-variety poor readers showed significant left neglect on the Clock Drawing Test. In poor readers with dyslexia, spatial construction deficits were observed like those of parents with acquired right-hemisphere lesions.…

The relationship between subtests of the Illinois Test of Psycholinguistic Abilities and the Developmental Test of Visual-Motor Integration to a comprehensive battery of reading measures was investigated in a sample of 77 poor readers in grades 2 through 6. (Author/PHR)