A surprisingly large number of otherwise `normal' children have problems learning to read, and these difficulties can produce disastrous consequences. Can we isolate the causes of reading problems? How can we best help backward readers? Peter Bryant and Lynette Bradley, in a trenchant and convincingly argued critique, show that many of the existing psychological explanations of reading problems are based on flawed research and on entirely inadequate evidence.

Peter Bryant is Watts Professor of Psychology at the University of Oxford, and author of Perception and Understanding in Young Children. Lynette Bradley is Senior Research Officer in the Department of Psychology at the University of Oxford, and author of Assessing Reading Difficulties.