This paper discusses the outcomes of a survey of 39 special education practitioners (including 24 school psychologists) and 280 elementary classroom teachers on the identification of students with reading disabilities. Practitioners were asked to rate five empirically valid and five clinical-traditional non-valid student traits for their significance as predictors of reading disability and, if judged to be a separable condition, dyslexia. Among the first group, nearly half chose to make this classification distinction; and for the teacher group, this percentage was even greater (80 percent). Analysis of raters' trait "correctness" scores did reveal a relatively higher degree of trait validity awareness for the prediction of reading disability versus dyslexia. In general, however, these scores were not impressively higher, nor did they vary with respect to grade level taught or years of practitioner experience. Results of the survey, which are interpreted to indicate the continuing, pervasive influence of clinical tradition and folk belief about the nature of reading problems, have important implications for referral allocation, Program eligibility, and Program goal setting. The survey is attached. (Contains 10 references.) (Author/CR)