Auditory-visual integration in normal and retarded readers.

The relation of auditory-visual integration to reading retardation was studied in 200 children nine and ten years of age. One hundred and fifty were retarded readers and 50 were normal readers. The retarded readers were significantly less able to make judgments of auditory-visual equivalence than were the normal readers. Within the two groups of readers, those children with lower auditory-visual performance tended to have the lower reading scores. When children with low normal IQ were eliminated from consideration, the significant difference in auditory-visual test performance between the retarded and normal readers was sustained. The findings were interpreted to indicate that the development of auditory-visual integration has specific relevance to sole factor underlying reading incompetence.