This article reflects on reading and writing disorders based on the concept of the subject as a discursive construction. Reading and writing are historically constituted practices that enable ways of positioning oneself in the world. Thus, deviations from the norms of writing and reading are seen in this study not as mere biological dysfunctions, but as different ways of reading and writing, produced by subjects with bodies that also relate in different ways with the more traditional tools, media and methods of reading and writing. A sociological and historical perspective is therefore emphasized, for understanding learning problems, refuting the excessively biological emphasis currently given in the diagnoses of learners with difficulties.