The objective of the study was to diagnose difficulties of reading in the pupils of the 4th elementary stage in khanyounis governorate in 2011-2012 school year. The sample included 80 male and female pupils from two elementary schools which were selected from the low achievers. 
The researcher prepared two examining methods one for the silent reading and the other for the audible reading. The result of the silent reading was that the pupils depend on guessing in their reading, but the problems of the audible reading was the delay in recognizing words. Pupils were reading letter by letter and word by word. 
Mistakes in reading words were (adding, substituting, and omitting) which indicates the lack of accuracy in reading which is essential for the reading performance. The study also shows that the difficulties of reading in male pupils exceeds that of the female.
Recommendation of the study: the early diagnosing difficulties of reading and early interference in remedy plans will lessen difficulties of reading with its psychological impact on the pupil.