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It comes as no surprise to me that the findings of the study in this article may have implications for teaching kids to read better. Historic perspective suggests that rapidly presented acoustic and visual stimuli can benefit reading instruction, as Tallal asserts. We knew this process as “flash cards” when I was in school.

Michele Hand
Missoula, Mont.

The article reports a lower ability to read among 10-year-olds with less ability to detect low-frequency sound. Audiologists say that chronic ear infections in infants can cause loss of low-frequency response. That makes me wonder if the lower reading ability reported is due to loss of the low-frequency response or if it is due to less sound stimulation when young. The other finding in the article is that visual acuity correlates with increased ability to spell. I wonder if the same correlation would hold for speakers of more phonetically spelled languages like Spanish or Japanese, or for reading and writing Chinese, which is completely nonphonetic.

Ivan Mann
Hoover, Ala.