DOI: 10.1177/074193258600700104 ISSN:

Decoding, Reading, and Reading Disability

Philip B. Gough, William E. Tunmer
  • Public Health, Environmental and Occupational Health
  • Education
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To clarify the role of decoding in reading and reading disability, a simple model of reading is proposed, which holds that reading equals the product of decoding and comprehension. It follows that there must be three types of reading disability, resulting from an inability to decode, an inability to comprehend, or both. It is argued that the first is dyslexia, the second hyperlexia, and the third common, or garden variety, reading disability.

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