Reading, Writing, and Speech Problems in Children and Selected Papers

by Samuel Torrey Orton, Richard L. Masland (Foreword)

This classic, first published in 1937 and reprinted in 1999 with a foreword by Dr. Richard Masland, former president of the World Federation of Neurology, is a tribute to the man who, more than any other, aroused the attention of the scientific community and provided the sound educational principles on which much teaching of individuals with dyslexia today is based. The collection of papers reprinted in this book interpret the essence of Dr. Orton's pioneering work in the field of developmental dyslexia.

380 pages, Paperback

Published January 1, 1999

About the author

Samuel Torrey Orton (1879-1948) was a neuropsychiatrist and pathologist who worked with adult patients that had brain damage due to injury. He took the knowledge he gained by working with these patients and applied it to children with apparently intact neurological brain function but experienced language processing disabilities, which would later be coined as Dyslexia.

In 1925, Dr. Orton set up a 2-week study evaluating teacher-referred students who were “failing in their schoolwork” and found that they had average or above-average IQ scores but experienced strephosymbolia, meaning “twisted symbols”. Out of this research, Dr. Orton formulated teaching principles and practices for these students that brought in the concept of “multisensory” teaching–integrating kinesthetic and tactile strategies.