Notes how females are known to excel over males in most reading tasks, but not consistently so in tasks that require processing information from maps, tables, charts and diagrams, so called "Documents." Describes and analyzes gender differences on Document tasks, and investigates if and how the pattern of differences varies over countries. (SG)

Administers a psychoeducational battery to 37 adults with a 3-generation history of dyslexia and personal history of reading/spelling problems. States that, although males were not overrepresented in the sample, they exhibited a more severe reading impairment profile than females. Discusses severity of dyslexia as a possible mechanism of the…

Analyzes composition reading performance data from identical and fraternal twin pairs in order to test the hypothesis that genetic influences are more important as a cause of reading disability in girls than in boys. Provides little or no evidence for the hypothesis of greater genetic influence on reading difficulties in girls than in boys. (SC)

Finds main effects for group but not gender. Finds that the combined use of direct and indirect measures appeared most effective in examining the complexities of writing produced by learning-disabled and nonlearning disabled college students. (RS)

Examines consequences of using alternative definitions for prevalence, sex ratio and heritability. Demonstrates that the characteristics of reading-disabled children vary with the way disability is defined. Concludes that the use of regression-based procedures for identifying reading disability is desirable. Suggests insufficient evidence exists…

Fits spelling data from identical and fraternal twins to a basic multiple regression model. Finds that about 60% of the deficit of probands was due to heritable influences. Finds a nonsignificant sex difference. Suggests collaborative analyses of data from additional twin studies of reading disability to facilitate more rigorous tests. (RS)

Finds the best preschool predictors of reading were naming tests for boys and general verbal ability for girls; for kindergartners, a quantitative test surpassed test of phonemic awareness and language in predicting reading; effects of birth order were strongest at the preschool level; socioeconomic status had significant effects only for boys,…