Word Decoding and Rule-Learning in Normal and Disabled Readers

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Abstract
Learning to decode words accurately and rapidly represents a major problem for the reading-disabled child. Recent advances in our understanding of word knowledge and decoding permit an assessment of those aspects of words that appear to be most troublesome to the disabled reader. A series of experiments is described; rule-based and word-specific views of decoding are examined. Results reveal that inconsistent rules and words are differentially harder for disabled readers than for normal readers. Additional evidence suggests that disabled readers may suffer a primary problem in learning irregular rule systems.