Everyone would agree that learning to read involves developing many skills. What is more controversial is whether learning these skills depends on the child reaching a certain stage of cognitive development. This idea is central to the issue of “reading readiness,” or the idea that reading instruction should begin when a child reaches certain cognitive or behavioral benchmarks. Consequently, there is often _____ concern about reading difficulties prior to age 7, due to the belief that general cognitive maturation will resolve early reading problems. This belief does not appear to be supported by empirical longitudinal studies indicating that word recognition skills as early as first grade can predict how much reading students will do in high school. The roots of the “reading readiness” concept reach far back into education history, and perhaps that is why this belief is still prevalent among teachers today. Some developmental psychologists and teachers contend that children must attain a concrete operations stage of cognitive development before they can learn to read successfully, and this usually occurs around the age of 7.