Visual attentional processes and reading: Assessment and prospects

This article summarizes research examining the very earliest stages of visual word recognition in both skilled and beginner readers, from the uptake of visual information to sub-lexical orthographic processing. Visual and attentional factors are thought to have their main impact on reading at this first level of orthographic processing. We examine the importance of these processes for learning to read, and how they can improve our understanding of the difficulties encountered by a proportion of dyslexic children during reading acquisition.