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From a careful study of thirteen cases, the authors conclude that reading disabilities represent defenses against anxiety connected with the child's sexual curiosity. The anxieties met with are of three types: (1) fear of seduction because of inadequate mastery of excessive sexual stimulation; (2) fear of loss of love (where this has been threatened in connection with sexual curiosity; and (3) fear of the destructive implications of curiosity.
The particular defense which the patient uses is reflected in the type of his reading ability. A child who completely inhibits his sexual impulses will phobically avoid contact with all reading material. Another child, who has not surrendered his curiosity entirely, may show hesitations and pauses in his attempts to read. These represent efforts to dose the anxiety in bearable amounts. Still other children try counterphobic attempts at control, such as rushing through a reading assignment. The authors have found that one can often slow the reading in such cases by telling the patient the content of the lesson in advance. Of the thirteen cases reported, eleven were treated by the tutor, one by the psychiatrist, and one was transferred to the psychiatrist after a period of preliminary work with the tutor. Three excellent cases are quoted to illustrate the three types of anxiety discussed. The authors conclude that classical reading tutoring is not a causal therapy and probably owes its occasional successes to the fact that the tutor intuitively satisfies some of the emotional needs of the child.