What kinds of things cause children’s reading difficulties?

The first part of this paper explains the distinction between proximal and distal causes of developmental disorders of cognition, with special reference to developmental disorders of reading. A number of different proximal causes of developmental disorders of reading have been identified. These correspond to a number of different patterns of developmental reading impairments – a number of “types of developmental dyslexia”, if you like – which are described in the second part of the paper. These patterns are interpreted in relation to a specific information-processing model of the cognitive system for reading. How each pattern is diagnosed, and how each might be treated, is discussed.