A note on the distinction between attention deficit disorder and reading disability: Are there group-specific cognitive deficits?

In a recent paper in this journal, Felton and her colleagues (R. H. Felton, F. B. Wood, I. B. Brown, S. K. Campbell, & M. R. Harter, 1987, Brain and Language, 31, 171-184) claim to have demonstrated that children suffering from attention deficit disorder have different cognitive deficits from children with reading disorders. In this paper, we show that the two groups were inappropriately compared and that Felton et al.'s own data do not support their conclusions.