This study asked whether the reading behavior of dyslexics differs qualitatively from that of
normal children. Thirty-seven children who had been identified is dyslexic (mean age 11 years,
9 months) were matched with 37 normal readers (mean age 8,6) on ability to read regular words.
The dyslexics' and normals' levels of performance on nonsense words and exception words were
strikingly close. Also, patterns ofindividual differences were similar for the two groups. The results
suggest that these dyslexics are delayed in the development of both spelling-sound rules and wordspecific
associations. They do not support the view that dyslexics have a specific deficit in the
use ofspelling-sound rules, or that dyslexics show more extreme individual differences than do
normal readers.