... and Orton believed that visual problems underlay an apparent 'wordblindness'. Orton (1925) introduced the term 'strephosymbolia' to specify that, although the problem was believed to be primarily visual, it was not one of blindness as such, but one of 'twisted symbols', a difficulty in distinguishing the order of letters. However, around a quarter of a century ago, there was a gradual realisation that problems of language must be, at least in part, responsible for the reading deficits (Vellutino, 1979). This general hypothesis has been refined over the years to provide what is arguably the consensus theoretical belief of most dyslexia researchers, namely that dyslexic children suffer from an early impairment in their phonological skills, and this impairment prevents them from acquiring the word decoding and blending skills that are essential for the acquisition of skilled reading. Following on from this consensus, systematic phonics instruction, as a remediation for dyslexia has ...

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