Athanassios Protopapas|Rauno Parrila
Is Dyslexia a Brain Disorder?
University of Oslo|Macquarie University
specific word reading difficulty commonly termed lsquodevelopmental dyslexiarsquo refers low end word reading skill distribution frequently considered neurodevelopmental disorder term implies brain development thought disrupted resulting abnormal dysfunctional brain take issue view pointing evidence obvious neurological abnormality vast majority cases word reading difficulty cases available relevant evidence neuroimaging studies consists almost entirely correlational groupdifferences studies however differences brains certain exist whenever differences behavior exist including differences ability performance therefore findings brain differences constitute evidence abnormality rather simply document neural substrate behavioral differences suggest dyslexia best viewed one many expressions ordinary ubiquitous individual differences normal developmental outcomes thus terms ldquodysfunctionalrdquo ldquoabnormalrdquo justified referring brains persons dyslexia