Children who fail at school are often classified as retarded or as ‘dull’ on the basis of their IQ. We question the usefulness of this distinction. We review the ‘Isle of Wight’ studies and argue that most differences reported between retarded readers and dull readers may be explained by fairly general principles, among which are a ceiling effect on the reading scores and the different reading score distribution of boys and girls. It is suggested that the distinction between retarded and dull readers be ab