Reply to Cohn's comments on cones

The social misperception syndrome in children with learning disabilities: social causes versus neurological variables

Family shortcomings or other intrinsic psychological deficits are frequently viewed as contributing factors to the social misperceptiveness frequently seen in children with learning disabilities. This article attempts to synthesize research defining the social problems of some children with learning disabilities. Particularly emphasized is the role of communication skills deficits. Breakthroughs in neurophysiology negate, to a large extent, traditional emphases on family dysfunction, school failure, or personality distrubances as primary causes of the social problems of some children with LD. Advances in vision and language research allow departure from the social paradigm of the "misperceptive syndrome" to consider constitutionally based hypotheses of neural dysfunction. Neural aberrations are viewed as triggering deficient language processing, which in turn may lead to unsatisfactory social interactions. Several correlates and characteristics of family, school, and environmental systems are discussed in the context of their impact on personality development and on changes in the life adjustments of both children and adults with learning disabilities.

Light sensitivity in peripheral retinal fields of dyslexic and proficient readers

This present study furthers research on perceptual differences between dyslexics and normal readers which is contrary to the current linguistic approaches to this problem. Specifically, thresholds of light intensity for small retinal areas were examined. As hypothesized, the peripheral retinas of proficient readers evidenced lower thresholds than the peripheral retinas of dyslexic readers. These results are consistent with Grosser and Spafford's previous research which showed that dyslexics were better able to detect colors with their peripheral retinas than proficient readers. This research lends support to the premise that dyslexics' retinas have unusually high cone density in the periphery. Additional research is warranted to improve both diagnosis and treatment of dyslexia.