Perinatal Events as Precursors of Reading Disability

THE PROCEDURES AND RESULTS OF MAJOR STUDIES which explore the relation between reading disability and complications of pregnancy and birth are critically reviewed. Attention is given to issues of research design, test use, and statistical methods. Although none of the studies reviewed is free of methodological problems, the research does point up a correlation between perinatal events and reading disability. That relationship tends to be of a low order, but it is statistically significant. To some extent, there appears to be a likely causal chain from perinatal anomaly to neurological insult to reading disability. Neonatal neurological damage is suggested as the major independent variable for investigators interested in this topic.