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The past two decades have witnessed an explosion in our understanding of dyslexia (or specific reading disability), the most common and most carefully studied of the learning disabilities. We first review the core concepts of dyslexia: its definition, prevalence, and developmental course. Next we examine the cognitive model of dyslexia, especially the phonological theory, and review empiric data suggesting genetic and neurobiological influences on the development of dyslexia. With the scientific underpinnings of dyslexia serving as a foundation, we turn our attention to evidence-based approaches to diagnosis and treatment, including interventions and accommodations. Teaching reading represents a major focus. We first review those reading interventions effective in early grades, and then review interventions for older students. To date the preponderance of intervention studies have focused on word-level reading; newer studies are beginning to examine reading interventions that have gone beyond word reading to affect reading fluency and reading comprehension. The article concludes with a discussion of the critical role of accommodations for dyslexic students and the recent neurobiological evidence supporting the need for such accommodations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

: BackgroundA range of neurobiological investigations shows a failure of left hemisphere posterior brain systems to function properly during reading. Such evidence of a disruption in the normal reading pathways provides a neurobiological target for reading interventions. In this study, we hypothesized that the provision of an evidence-based, phonologically mediated reading intervention would improve reading fluency and the development of the fast-paced occipitotemporal systems serving skilled reading.: MethodsFunctional magnetic resonance imaging was used to study the effects of a phonologically based reading intervention on brain organization and reading fluency in 77 children aged 6.1–9.4 years (49 with reading disability and 28 control subjects). Children comprised three experimental groups: experimental intervention (n = 37), community intervention (n = 12), and community control subjects (n = 28).: ResultsImmediately after the year-long intervention, children taught with the experimental intervention had made significant gains in reading fluency and demonstrated increased activation in left hemisphere regions, including the inferior frontal gyrus and the middle temporal gyrus; 1 year after the experimental intervention had ended these children were activating bilateral inferior frontal gyri and left superior temporal and occipitotemporal regions.: ConclusionsThese data indicate that the nature of the remedial educational intervention is critical to successful outcomes in children with reading disabilities and that the use of an evidence-based phonologic reading intervention facilitates the development of those fast-paced neural systems that underlie skilled reading. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]