Psychiatric correlates of severe reading disabilities in an incarcerated delinquent population

The neuropsychiatric status and reading grade level of 59 adolescent incarcerated male delinquents were studied. Contrary to expectation, there were no significant neurological differences between the severely reading-disabled subjects and the better readers, although abnormal EEGs, choreiform movements, and inability to skip were somewhat more characteristic of the poorer readers. The most striking differences were psychiatric in that paranoid ideation, illogical thought processes, and visual hallucinations were significantly more prevalent in the group of especially poor readers. They also had problems with calculation and short-term memory. Poor readers were more violent than better readers. The findings of severe behavior problems and reading disability are considered in relation to Piagetian cognitive theory.