GERMAN-SPEAKING STUDIES ON INTERVENTION OF READING AND WRITING DISORDERS - A REVIEW OF RECENT TRENDS OF INVESTIGATION

Since the strong criticism of the research on dyslexia at the end of the seventies and the collapse of research activities on this problem the scientific background of research on reading-writing-difficulties (RWD) has evolved. The development of models of literacy, the knowledge about the process relevant subskills (e.g. phonological awareness) as well as the fundamentals of the learning theory have improved significantly. This review explores, if and how the German-speaking RWD intervention research of the eighties and early nineties has taken these developments into account. As one result of this analysis studies could be found that in fact took into consideration aspects of literacy as well as learning theoretical aspects. Such a procedure seems most probably to result in positive intervention effects. In addition, the methodological quality of the existing studies is discussed, the small amount of intervention studies is pointed out, and conclusions for further RWD intervention research are drawn.