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This little book is intended for inter-disciplinary use to help teachers, paediatricians, psychologists, social workers etc. understand some of the
“dimensions” which contribute to problems in learning to read. Certainly nobody having read the book will consider reading difficulties a unitary problem. Some of the dimensions listed are dimensions within the child, sociological and family dimensions, dimensions within the school setting, the neurological dimension. It is a great pity that a book of this nature when describing “the dimensions within the child” concentrates only on cognitive and perceptual factors but ignores the inside world of the child which has to do with his drives, conflicts and emotions. This inside world, it is true, is impinged upon by the environment and impinges on it, but it is certainly not solely the product of the environment. On the contrary it is individual to each child and it is unfortunate that a book which stresses the contribution of reading to the child's development of his own identity, should pay no heed to these essentials. Personality problems are mentioned, but only in relation to environmental factors and their current influence on the child. Those of us who work in psychotherapy know to what extent, for example, the lifting of inhibition on aggression and the freeing of it for constructive uses may produce greatly improved intellectual functioning, and how the dealing with conflicts centred on curiosity, intake and output, etc. may free the child for further learning. One does not, of course, in a book of this nature expect a detailed description of these factors but it does seem essential for those who deal with children with learning problems, including reading difficulties, to be at least aware of their existence.