Reading is a complex activity that involves a range of skills in order to access meaning via the printed word. Reading Development and Difficulties demonstrates that there are two aspects to a child becoming a skilled reader: the development of good word reading skills and the ability to extract the overall meaning of a text.

“This is a scholarly textbook which should become essential reading for psychologists, educationalists and speech and language therapists. Kate Cain has an ability to present very complex issues with a degree of clarity that ensures the reader comes to a deep understanding of the issues and quality of the scientific evidence that she presents for analysis.”
— Professor Rhona Stainthorp, Institute of Education, University of Reading "Kate Cain’s valuable account of the psychology of learning to read is clear, incisive and always interesting. It tells us how children learn to decipher single words and to read whole sentences, and also how they are eventually able to co-ordinate the meanings of several, different sentences in order to understand quite complicated texts."
—Peter Bryant, Senior Research Fellow, Department of Education, Oxford University Reading is a complex activity that involves a range of skills in order to access meaning via the printed word. Reading Development and Difficulties demonstrates that there are two aspects to a child becoming a skilled reader: the development of good word reading skills and the ability to extract the overall meaning of a text. This book provides a comprehensive and balanced introduction to the development of these two core aspects of reading. In addition, the author examines the specific problems that underlie reading difficulties with a detailed review of two populations: children with developmental dyslexia, and children with poor reading comprehension. The final chapters focus on instruction and intervention, and the assessment of reading for educational, research, and diagnostic purposes. Unique in its balanced coverage of both word reading and reading comprehension development, this book is an essential resource for undergraduates studying literacy acquisition. Offers wide coverage of the subject and discusses both typical development and the development of difficulties in reading. Accessibly written for students and professionals with no previous background in reading development or reading difficulties.

This accessible text brings together research on word reading and comprehension development, which are often treated separately, and provides a comprehensive and detailed introductory text to reading development and difficulties.
Key features include:
An introduction to the important issues in reading research and the skills involved in reading words and understanding text, from the point of view of both a beginner and a skilled reader
A consideration of the similarities and differences between written and spoken language, and the advantages and disadvantages of different methodological approaches
An examination of how failures in reading comprehension skills can create difficulties and disorders
A consideration of the implications of this research for the teaching of reading and the diagnosis and treatment of reading difficulties
This text will be useful to many different groups of readers, not only researchers and students in psychology but also those who work in more applied settings, such as students in education and speech and language therapy, who may have a limited background knowledge of the psychology of reading.