Dyslexic Children Show fMRI Response To Training

Brain images of children with dyslexia taken before they received spelling instruction show that they have different patterns of neural activity than do good spellers when doing language tasks related to spelling. But after specialized treatment emphasizing the letters in words, they showed similar patterns of brain activity. These findings are important because they show the human brain can change and normalize in response to spelling instruction, even in dyslexia, the most common learning disability.

The research is unique in that it looks at images of individual brains rather than the composite group images…. Being able to study how individual brains differ between good and poor spellers and how they normalize after receiving one of two treatments is an important advance, according to University of Washington neuroimaging scientist Todd Richards and neuropsychologist Virginia Berninger, who headed the research team.

Earlier research by the UW team and others has shown that dyslexic children exhibit a different pattern of brain activity while reading compared to youngsters who are good readers, but that the brain is malleable and this pattern can normalize with specialized instruction….

Researchers have found that humans code words in three forms while learning how to read and spell. These codes draw on common and unique brain circuits. The brain codes words by their sound…, by the parts of words that signal meaning and grammar …and by their visual or written form.
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The findings appeared in the January issue of the journal Neurolinguistics. The researchers used fMRI to observe patterns of brain activity and to distinguish the effect of instruction. Instruction that emphasized focusing on and remembering the letters in written (visual form) words led to the most favorable results in terms of brain activity.

Comments: The report illustrates to role of (at least) three brain modules in the development of reading and spelling skills. It also illustrates how fMRI can display the changing patterns of module use as the child learns to read more effectively. Those changing patterns can provide prompt and therefore valuable evidence about the effectiveness of treatments.

This study used only a small number of subjects. More studies, with more subjects, will probably be needed. The encouraging thing is that fMRI seems to be able to give definitive results. This is not only an issue for dyslexia. For more than 50 years, there has been a debate over the appropriate method for teaching reading.

(Vulcan Fuzzy Phrase warning: the appropriate method carries the assumption that there is one method for all children and for all ages and stages of development.)

I did a Google search on the key words: "look and say" read "sound it out"

I found about 75 items. Apparently, the debate has not been settled (perhaps because there is no one appropriate method for all cases). Perhaps fMRI will offer a definitive method not only for settling the debate, but for adjusting the training to the individual needs of students and their current level of preparation.