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Previous Dyslexia Research: 2002-2006   
The Dyslexia File also contains summaries of past research that has shown promise and may still be standard practice among many physicians. To download earlier research findings on Dyslexia, click HERE.
 

Latest Research on Dyslexia
     
Cortex. 2008 Jul-Aug;44(7):773-81. Epub 2007 Dec 23.
Longitudinal fMRI study of reading in a patient with letter-by-letter reading.
Ino T, Tokumoto K, Usami K, Kimura T, Hashimoto Y, Fukuyama H.
Department of Neurology, Rakuwakai-Otowa Hospital, Otowachinjicho, Kyoto, Japan. rakuwadr042@rakuwadr.com

The present study provides a longitudinal fMRI study of reading 7 days after a hemorrhage in the left basal occipito-temporal region when the patient showed letter-by-letter (LBL) reading, and repeated again 50 days after onset, when his LBL reading had resolved. Direct comparison of the two sessions showed that right homologue of the so called visual word form area (VWFA), as well as a network related to language and verbal working memory, such as the bilateral premotor areas, Broca's area and its right homologue, and the left supplementary motor area were more strongly activated when his LBL reading persisted than when he recovered, whereas perilesional activity around the VWFA and the activity of superior part of the left superior parietal lobule were more strongly activated when he recovered than when his LBL reading persisted. These results suggest that dynamic functional reorganization of the brain was caused in the acute phase and that the increased activation of certain areas in the left superior parietal lobule in addition to the VWFA may be related to recovery from LBL reading.

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Behav Brain Sci. 2008 Jun;31(3):321-31; discussion 331-56.
Précis of neuroconstructivism: how the brain constructs cognition.
Sirois S, Spratling M, Thomas MS, Westermann G, Mareschal D, Johnson MH.
School of Psychological Sciences, The University of Manchester, Oxford Road, Manchester, M13 9PL, United Kingdom. sylvain.sirois@manchester.ac.uk

Neuroconstructivism: How the Brain Constructs Cognition proposes a unifying framework for the study of cognitive development that brings together (1) constructivism (which views development as the progressive elaboration of increasingly complex structures), (2) cognitive neuroscience (which aims to understand the neural mechanisms underlying behavior), and (3) computational modeling (which proposes formal and explicit specifications of information processing). The guiding principle of our approach is context dependence, within and (in contrast to Marr [1982]) between levels of organization. We propose that three mechanisms guide the emergence of representations: competition, cooperation, and chronotopy; which themselves allow for two central processes: proactivity and progressive specialization. We suggest that the main outcome of development is partial representations, distributed across distinct functional circuits. This framework is derived by examining development at the level of single neurons, brain systems, and whole organisms. We use the terms encellment, embrainment, and embodiment to describe the higher-level contextual influences that act at each of these levels of organization. To illustrate these mechanisms in operation we provide case studies in early visual perception, infant habituation, phonological development, and object representations in infancy. Three further case studies are concerned with interactions between levels of explanation: social development, atypical development and within that, developmental dyslexia. We conclude that cognitive development arises from a dynamic, contextual change in embodied neural structures leading to partial representations across multiple brain regions and timescales, in response to proactively specified physical and social environment.

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Psychiatr Genet. 2008 Jun;18(3):137-42.
Further evidence for a susceptibility locus contributing to reading disability on chromosome 15q15-q21.
Schumacher J, König IR, Schröder T, Duell M, Plume E, Propping P, Warnke A, Libertus C, Ziegler A, Müller-Myhsok B, Schulte-Körne G, Nöthen MM.
Institute of Human Genetics, University of Bonn, Bonn, Germany.

BACKGROUND: Linkage and association studies in dyslexia suggest that a susceptibility locus exists on chromosome 15q15-q21. OBJECTIVE: This study aims to evaluate these findings in an independent sample of dyslexia. METHODS: We performed linkage and association analyses using 82 families with dyslexia and 19 STR markers covering the target region on chromosome 15q. RESULTS: We observed suggestive evidence for linkage at STR-marker D15S143; this was the strongest implicated marker in the previous linkage studies on dyslexia. At the association level, linkage disequilibrium (LD) was found between dyslexia and markers within a circumscribed genomic region recently implicated in two independent studies on dyslexia. CONCLUSION: Our data and the previous reported findings present convincing evidence for a dyslexia-related gene within the identified linkage and LD region on chromosome 15q. However, at this stage it seems difficult to determine whether the linkage and association findings point to more than one susceptibility loci within this region. A definite answer to this question will require systematic single nucleotide polymorphism-based LD mapping within the implicated region, which should lead to the identification of the true dyslexia susceptibility gene(s).

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Cogn Neuropsychol. 2008 May;25(3):343-75.
Predicting generalization in the training of irregular-word spelling: treating lexical spelling deficits in a child.
Kohnen S, Nickels L, Coltheart M, Brunsdon R.
Macquarie Centre for Cognitive Science, Macquarie University, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. skohnen@maccs.mq.edu.au

This paper presents a single case study investigating the mechanisms underlying generalization of treatment benefits to untrained words in spelling. Brunsdon, Coltheart, and Nickels (2005) observed that untreated words that improved tended to be those whose errors were closest to being correct prior to treatment. These words also tended to be high in written frequency. The present study employed the same treatment techniques as those used by Brunsdon et al. with K.M., a developmental surface dysgraphic. During a first treatment the characteristics of words whose spelling improved without specific training were identified. These characteristics were then used in a second treatment to test whether it was possible to predict generalization. The results showed that treatment generalization to untreated irregular words was best predicted by neighbourhood size and frequency. We suggest that the processes underlying treatment generalization are based on the interaction between the orthographic lexicon and the graphemic buffer. Clinical implications are discussed.

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Prax Kinderpsychol Kinderpsychiatr. 2008;57(5):346-61.
[Multifamily therapy in children with learning disabilities]
[Article in German]
Retzlaff R, Brazil S, Goll-Kopka A.
Institut für Psychosomatische Kooperationsforschung und Familientherapie, Zentrum für Psychosoziale Medizin, Universitätsklinik Heidelberg. Ruediger_Retzlaff@med.uni-heidelberg.de

Multifamily therapy is an evidence-based method used in the treatment and prevention of severe psychiatric disorders, behavioral problems and physical illnesses in children, adolescents and adults. For preventive family-oriented work with children with learning disorders there is a lack of therapeutic models. This article presents results from an innovative pilot project—multiple family groups for families with a learning disabled child of primary school age (six to eleven years old). Based on a systemic approach, this resource-oriented program integrates creative, activity-based interventions and group therapy techniques and conveys a comprehensive understanding of the challenges associated with learning disorders. Because of the pilot character of the study and the small sample size, the results have to be interpreted with care. The results do however clearly support the wider implementation and evaluation of the program in child guidance clinics, social-pediatric centers, as well as child and adolescent clinics and schools.

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J Med Food. 2007 Dec;10(4):662-6.
A 5-month open study with long-chain polyunsaturated Fatty acids in dyslexia.
Lindmark L, Clough P.
Falsterbo, Sweden, United Kingdom.

This open pilot study investigated effects of a docosahexaenoic acid (DHA)-rich supplement on learning ability in a group of 20 dyslexic children in Sweden. Children formally diagnosed as dyslexic took eight capsules per day of a long-chain polyunsaturated fatty acid (LC-PUFA) supplement containing high-DHA fish oil and evening primrose oil. Subjective assessments by the children and their parents were completed at baseline and 6, 12, and 20 weeks after supplementation. Quantitative evaluation by word-chain test was completed before and after 4 months of supplementation to measure word decoding (speed of reading) and letter decoding (motoric-perceptual speed). Subjective parent and child assessments showed increasing numbers of positive responders over time in reading speed, general schoolwork, and overall perceived benefit. Significant improvements were observed in reading speed and motor-perceptual velocity. Thirteen of 17 children had a significant improvement on the word-chain test (P < .04). Reading speed improved by 60% from 1.76 +/- 0.29 before the study to 2.82 +/- 0.36 after supplementation (P < .01 by Wilcoxon sign test). Motoric-perceptual velocity improved by 23% from a stanine value of 3.76 +/- 0.42 to 4.65 +/- 0.66 after supplementation (P < .05 by Wilcoxon sign test). Thus LC-PUFA supplementation for 5 months provides positive and clear beneficial effect on variables usually impaired by dyslexia.

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Trends Cogn Sci. 2007 Nov;11(11):458-65. Epub 2007 Nov 5.
Dyslexia and the anchoring-deficit hypothesis.
Ahissar M.
Hebrew University, Mount Scopus, Jerusalem, Israel. msmerava@pluto.huji.ac.il

The 'core deficit' of dyslexia has been characterized by different researchers in terms of either phonological impairments or of difficulties in processing basic visual and auditory stimuli. Recent findings suggest that a single type of impairment in the dynamics of perception, which affects the efficiency of short-term memory, might underlie the broad range of difficulties of dyslexics. Experimental findings show that the general population quickly and automatically tunes around incoming stimuli, 'anchors to them' and performs faster and more accurately when these stimuli are subsequently repeated. Dyslexic individuals fail to benefit from stimulus-specific repetitions. This deficit can account for phonological, working memory, visual and auditory difficulties, in addition to the greater sensitivity of dyslexics to external noise.

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Dyslexia. 2007 Nov;13(4):240-52. Comment on: Dyslexia. 2007 May;13(2):78-96.
Test-retest effects in treatment studies of reading disability: the devil is in the detail.
McArthur G.
Macquarie Centre for Cognitive Science, Macquarie University, New South Wales, Australia. genevieve.mcarthur@maccs.mq.edu.au

Reynolds and Nicolson (Dyslexia, 2007; 13: 78-96) claim to show that the 'dyslexia dyspraxia attention-deficit treatment' (DDAT) benefits children with reading difficulties. However, Rack, Snowling, Hulme, and Gibbs (Dyslexia, 2007; 13: 97-104) argue that because this study did not include an untrained control group then 'all that needs to be postulated to explain the results reported is that children improve their scores on the DST screening tests simply as a result of repeated testing on the same activities' (p. 102). How likely is it that the linguistic gains reported by Reynolds and Nicolson (Dyslexia, 2007; 13: 78-96) are due to test-retest effects? The results of previous exercise- and auditory-based treatment studies that included an untrained control group suggest that test-retest effects explain gains on around 50% of real-word reading tests, 33% of phonological recoding tests, 33% of phonological awareness tests, 17-25% of spoken language tests, and 15% of spelling tests. In addition, longer periods of time between test and retest sessions are associated with test-retest effects on measures of reading but not spoken language. These findings suggest that two of the four linguistic gains reported by Reynolds and Nicolson (Dyslexia, 2007; 13: 78-96) are due to test-retest effects (phonemic segmentation and working memory). The remaining two tests are measures of spoken language and not reading. Hence, the data reported by Reynolds and Nicolson (Dyslexia, 2007; 13: 78-96) are not sufficient to support DDAT as an effective treatment for children with reading difficulties. Copyright (c) 2007 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

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Dyslexia. 2007 Oct 29 [Epub ahead of print]
Fluency remediation in dyslexic children: does age make a difference?
Tressoldi PE, Lorusso ML, Brenbati F, Donini R.
Dipartimento di Psicologia Generale, Università di Padova, Padova, Italy.

This study tested the hypothesis whether older dyslexic children may obtain fewer gains on fluency and accuracy with respect to their younger peers after specific remediation. Changes in accuracy and fluency of a group of children with a diagnosis of dyslexia attending third and fourth grades were compared with those obtained by a group of children attending the sixth, seventh or eighth grade in two different treatments, one based on the Balance model (Bakker) and the second based on the automatization of syllable recognition (sublexical). Among all comparisons between the gains in accuracy and fluency obtained by the two groups, only the younger group in the sublexical treatment obtained a statistically significant gain with respect to their older peers' accuracy in reading words. These outcomes suggest that, at least for the chronological ages and types of treatments considered in this study, older children with dyslexia may obtain comparable gains to their younger peers, suggesting that 'it is never too late' to remediate reading fluency and accuracy. Copyright (c) 2007 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

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Ophthalmologe. 2007 Oct 18 [Epub ahead of print]
[A critical view of alternative methods for treating visual complaints.]
[Article in German]
Pieh C, Lagrèze WA.
Universitäts-Augenklinik Freiburg, Killianstraße 5, 79106, Freiburg, Deutschland, christina.pieh@uniklinik-freiburg.de.

Irlen therapy, visual training, training of ocular motor control, and the correction method of H.-J. Haase represent a diversity of treatment methods that are mainly aimed at dyslexia, fatigue while reading, and general lack of concentration. We summarize the theoretical background of these methods, treatment approaches, and related clinical trials. None of these methods, because of incorrect theoretical concepts and an attempt to simplify the underlying causes, was found to have a specific influence on the patients' complaints. The absence of specific therapeutic effects and the high costs and time expenditure required should discourage practitioners from recommending these methods.

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Restor Neurol Neurosci. 2007;25(3-4):355-69.
Computer-based multisensory learning in children with developmental dyslexia.
Kast M, Meyer M, Vögeli C, Gross M, Jäncke L.
Department of Computer Science, ETH Zurich, Switzerland. monika.kast@inf.ethz.ch

PURPOSE: Several attempts have been made to remediate developmental dyslexia using various training environments. Based on the well-known retrieval structure model, the memory strength of phonemes and graphemes should be strengthened by visual and auditory associations between graphemes and phonemes. Using specifically designed training software, we examined whether establishing a multitude of visuo-auditory associations might help to mitigate writing errors in children with developmental dyslexia. METHODS: Forty-three children with developmental dyslexia and 37 carefully matched normal reading children performed a computer-based writing training (15-20 minutes 4 days a week) for three months with the aim to recode a sequential textual input string into a multi-sensory representation comprising visual and auditory codes (including musical tones). The study included four matched groups: a group of children with developmental dyslexia (n=20) and a control group (n=18) practiced
with the training software in the first period (3 months, 15-20 minutes 4 days a week), while a second group of children with developmental dyslexia (n=23) (waiting group) and a second control group (n=19) received no training during the first period. In the second period the children with developmental dyslexia and controls who did not receive training during the first period now took part in the training. RESULTS: Children with developmental dyslexia who did not perform computer-based training during the first period hardly improved their writing skills (post-pre improvement of 0-9%), the dyslexic children receiving training strongly improved their writing skills (post-pre improvement of 19-35%). The group who did the training during the second period also revealed improvement of writing skills (post-pre improvement of 27-35%). Interestingly, we noticed a strong transfer from trained to non-trained words in that the children who underwent the training were also better able to write words correctly that were not part of the training software. In addition, even non-impaired readers and writers (controls) benefited from this training. CONCLUSION: Three-month of visual-auditory multimedia training strongly improved writing skills in children with developmental dyslexia and non-dyslexic children. Thus, according to the retrieval structure model, multi-sensory training using visual and auditory cues enhances writing performance in children with developmental dyslexia and non-dyslexic children.

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Dyslexia. 2007 Oct 15 [Epub ahead of print]
Coping with academic failure, a study of Dutch children with dyslexia.
Singer E.
Department of Education, University of Amsterdam, Amsterdam, The Netherlands.

This paper reports the results of a study of strategies that Dutch children with dyslexia employ to cope with recurrent academic failure. All of the students in the study had developed strategies for protecting their self-esteem. Using Harter's theory of coping with discrepancies between performance and standards, we distinguish four strategies: (1) working hard and committing to standards, (2) lowering standards, (3) seeking support from significant others (i.e. parents and teachers), and (4) avoiding comparisons with significant others (i.e. peers). Although self-talk emerged as an important component of all four strategies, it was employed both adaptively (e.g. to preserve the students' belief in their own academic capacities) and maladaptively (e.g. to devalue the importance of learning). The students relied most strongly on support from their parents; teachers and peers were more likely to be seen as threats to self-esteem. Strategies of teachers and parents to encourage adaptive coping with recurrent academic failure are confirming the student's self-worth, explaining dyslexia, showing faith in the student's capacities, fostering adaptive self-talk, providing educational treatment, and preventing teasing and bullying. Besides that, teachers and parents should cooperate. Copyright (c) 2007 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

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Neurosci Lett. 2007 Oct 29;427(1):61-5. Epub 2007 Sep 19.
Dyslexia and attentional shifting.
Stoet G, Markey H, López B.
Institute of Psychological Sciences, University of Leeds, Leeds, United Kingdom. g.stoet@leeds.ac.uk

Dyslexia is a neurocognitive deficit primarily expressed in reading difficulties, but also affecting non-linguistic performance. Several studies report that dyslexics perform differently in the attentional blink paradigm, which indicates an impaired capacity to rapidly shift visual attention. However, attentional shifting can occur at different levels of cognitive processing, and it is unclear whether dyslexic attentional shifting is impaired at all levels, or only at the peripheral levels. We studied performance on a task-switching paradigm by dyslexics and normal readers to test whether the difficulty with attentional shifting occurs at the level of central cognitive processing. We found no specific impairments in task-switching in dyslexics. However, dyslexics performed generally much more slowly across all conditions than normal readers. We conclude that while dyslexics have a problem with attentional switching at a perceptual level, their capacity to rapidly switch between tasks is normal. Our findings add to previous studies indicating that dyslexic problems with shifting visual attention are caused by anomalies in more peripheral neural pathways, such as the magnocellular layers in the lateral geniculate nucleus.

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Child Neuropsychol. 2007 Sep;13(5):389-407.
Cerebellar Tasks do not Distinguish Between Children with Developmental Dyslexia and Children with Intellectual Disability.
Savage R.
Faculty of Education, McGill University, Montreal, Canada.

This paper explored the claim that only children with developmental dyslexia, whose reading ability is discrepant from their average general reasoning ability show specific deficits in motor tasks assessing cerebellar functioning (Fawcett et al., 2001, Cerebellar tests differentiate between groups of poor readers with and without IQ discrepancy. J. Learning Disabilities, 34, 119) and rapid serial naming (RAN, Wolf & Bowers, 1999, The double deficit hypothesis for the developmental dyslexias. J. Educ. Psychol., 91, 1). All available children between the ages of 11 and 14 were recruited from two special schools for children with either (a) formally-diagnosed intellectual disabilities (N = 18); or (b) formal diagnoses of developmental dyslexia (N = 25). These two groups of children did not differ on gender, age, pseudoword decoding abilities, or on 7 of 8 literacy measures, but did differ significantly, as expected on verbal and non-verbal reasoning tasks. Importantly, there were no deficits in bead threading ability or postural stability in the children with developmental dyslexia compared to the children with intellectual disabilities. There were also no between-group differences in rapid naming measures. The present results therefore provide no support for the claim that cerebellar deficits or RAN distinguish between children with dyslexia and children with intellectual disabilities that include reading.

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BMC Neurosci. 2007 Jul 17;8:52.
Semantic, syntactic, and phonological processing of written words in adult developmental dyslexic readers: an event-related brain potential study.
Russeler J, Becker P, Johannes S, Munte TF.
Department of Psychology II, Neuropsychology Unit, Otto-von-Guericke University Magdeburg, Germany. jascha.ruesseler@nat.uni-magdeburg.de <jascha.ruesseler@nat.uni-magdeburg.de>

BACKGROUND: The present study used event-related brain potentials to investigate semantic, phonological and syntactic processes in adult German dyslexic and normal readers in a word reading task. Pairs of German words were presented one word at a time. Subjects had to perform a semantic judgment task (house-window; are they semantically related?), a rhyme judgment task (house-mouse; do they rhyme?) and a gender judgment task (das-Haus [the-house]; is the gender correct? [in German, house has a neutral gender: das Haus]). RESULTS: Normal readers responded faster compared to dyslexic readers in all three tasks. Onset latencies of the N400 component were delayed in dyslexic readers in the rhyme judgment and in the gender judgment task, but not in the semantic judgment task. N400 and the anterior negativity peak amplitudes did not differ between the two groups. However, the N400 persisted longer in the dyslexic group in the rhyme judgment and in the semantic judgment tasks. CONCLUSION: These findings indicate that dyslexics are phonologically impaired (delayed N400 in the rhyme judgment task) but that they also have difficulties in other, non-phonological aspects of reading (longer response times, longer persistence of the N400). Specifically, semantic and syntactic integration seem to require more effort for dyslexic readers and take longer irrespective of the reading task that has to be performed.

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J Child Psychol Psychiatry. 2007 Jun;48(6):609-18.
Children at family risk of dyslexia: a follow-up in early adolescence.
Snowling MJ, Muter V, Carroll J.
Department of Psychololgy, University of York, UK. mjs19@york.ac.uk

BACKGROUND: This study is the follow-up in early adolescence of children born to families with a history of dyslexia (Gallagher, Frith, & Snowling, 2000). METHODS: Fifty young people with a family history of dyslexia and 20 young people from control families were assessed at 12-13 years on a battery of tests of literacy and language skills, and they completed questionnaires tapping self-perception and print exposure. One parent from each family participated in an interview documenting family circumstances (including family literacy) and a range of environmental variables considered likely correlates of reading disability. They also rated their child's behavioural and emotional adjustment and their own health and well-being. Parental literacy levels were also measured. RESULTS: Forty-two per cent of the 'at-risk' sample had reading and spelling impairments. A significant proportion of the literacy-impaired group were affected by behavioural and emotional difficulties, although they were not low in terms of global self-esteem. The children in the at-risk subgroup who did not fulfill criteria for literacy impairment showed weak orthographic skills in adolescence and their reading was not fluent. There were no differences in the literacy levels or activities of the parents of impaired and unimpaired at-risk children, and no significant correlation between parent and child reading levels in the at-risk group. The impaired group read less than the other groups, their reading difficulties impacted learning at school and there was evidence that they also had an impact on family life and maternal well-being. CONCLUSIONS: The literacy difficulties of children at family-risk of dyslexia were longstanding and there was no evidence of catch-up in these skills between 8 and 13 years. The findings point to the role of gene-environment correlation in the determination of dyslexia.

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Pediatr Clin North Am. 2007 Jun;54(3):609-23, viii.
Management of dyslexia, its rationale, and underlying neurobiology.
Shaywitz SE, Gruen JR, Shaywitz BA.
Department of Pediatrics, Division of Child Neurology, Yale University School of Medicine, PO Box 333, New Haven, CT 06510-8064, USA. sally.shaywitz@yale.edu

Developmental dyslexia is characterized by an unexpected difficulty in reading in children and adults who otherwise possess the intelligence and motivation considered necessary for accurate and fluent reading. Dyslexia is the most common and most carefully studied of the learning disabilities, affecting 80% of all individuals identified as learning disabled. Although in the past the diagnosis and implications of dyslexia were often uncertain, recent advances in the knowledge of the epidemiology, the neurobiology, the genetics, and the cognitive influences on the disorder now allow the disorder to be approached within the framework of a traditional medical model. This article reviews these advances and their implications for the approach to patients presenting with a possible reading disability.

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Dyslexia. 2007 May;13(2):97-104; discussion 105-9. Comment on:
Dyslexia. 2007 May;13(2):78-96.
No evidence that an exercise-based treatment programme (DDAT) has specific benefits for children with reading difficulties.
Rack JP, Snowling MJ, Hulme C, Gibbs S.
Dyslexia Action, University of York, Heslington, UK. jrack@dyslexiaaction.org.uk

Reynolds and Nicolson (Dyslexia: An International Journal of Research & Practice, 2007) report follow-up data 12 and 18 months after a period of intervention consisting of an exercise-based treatment programme (Dyslexia Dyspraxia Attention Treatment Programme, DDAT). The findings suggested the treatment had effects on bead threading, balance, rapid naming, semantic fluency and working memory but not on reading or spelling. We argue that the design of the study is flawed, the statistics used to analyse the data are inappropriate, and reiterate other issues raised by ourselves and others in this journal in 2003. Current evidence provides no support for the claim that DDAT is effective in improving children's literacy skills.

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Dyslexia. 2007 May;13(2):78-96. Comment in: Dyslexia. 2007 May;13(2):97-104; discussion 105-9.
Follow-up of an exercise-based treatment for children with reading difficulties.
Reynolds D, Nicolson RI.
School of Education, St. Luke's College, University of Exeter, UK. David.Reynolds@exeter.ac.uk

This study reports the results of a long-term follow-up of an exercise-based approach to dyslexia-related disorders (Reynolds, Nicolson, & Hambly, Dyslexia, 2003; 9(1): 48-71). In the initial study, children at risk of dyslexia were identified in 3 years of a junior school. One half then undertook a 6 month, home-based exercise programme. Evaluation after 6 months indicated that the exercise group improved significantly more than the controls on a range of cognitive and motor skills. Critics had suggested that the improvement might be attributable to artifactual issues including Hawthorne effects; an initial literacy imbalance between the groups; and inclusion of non-dyslexic participants. The present study evaluated the issue of whether the gains were maintained over the following 18 months, and whether they were in some sense artifactual as postulated by critics of the original study. Comparison of (age-adjusted) initial and follow-up performance indicated significant gains in motor skill, speech/language fluency, phonology, and working memory. Both dyslexic and non-dyslexic low achieving children benefited. There was also a highly significant reduction in the incidence of symptoms of inattention. Interestingly there were no significant changes in speeded tests of reading and spelling, but there was a significant improvement in (age-adjusted) reading (NFER). It is concluded that the gains were indeed long-lasting, and that the alternative hypotheses based on potential artifacts were untenable, and that the exercise treatment therefore achieved its applied purpose. Further research is needed to determine the underlying reasons for the benefits. Possible (and potentially synergistic) explanations include: improved cerebellar function (neural level); improved learning ability and/or attentional ability (cognitive level); improved self-esteem and self-efficacy (affective level); and improved parental/familial support (social level).

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Folia Phoniatr Logop. 2007;59(4):177-83.
Cerebellum and reading.
Vlachos F, Papathanasiou I, Andreou G.
University of Thessaly, Volos, Greece.

BACKGROUND: Traditionally, the cerebellum has been considered to control coordinated movement. However, in recent years it has been argued that it contributes to higher cognitive functions. OBJECTIVES: This review aims to present recent evidence concerning the role of the cerebellum and discusses how it can contribute to reading. METHOD: The procedure used involves findings coming from three quite different areas, lesion, anatomic and functional imaging studies. RESULTS: These studies indicate a link between cerebellum and reading and its relationship with specific reading difficulties. CONCLUSIONS: Our review provides evidence which is in accordance with the recently established role of the cerebellum as a regulator of mental functions and supports theoretical models suggesting that cerebellar deficits might be a cause of developmental dyslexia. Copyright 2007 S. Karger AG, Basel.

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Cerebellum. 2007;6(3):159-62.
Cerebellar contributions to cognitive functions: A progress report after two decades of research.
Timmann D, Daum I.
Department of Neurology, University of Duisburg-Essen.

Accumulating evidence from both human lesion and functional neuroimaging studies appears to support the hypothesis that the cerebellum contributes to non-motor functions. Along similar lines, cognitive, affective and behavioural changes in psychiatric disorders, such as autism, schizophrenia and dyslexia, have been linked to structural cerebellar abnormalities. The aim of this special issue was to evaluate the current knowledge base after more than 20 years of controversial discussion. The contributions of the special issue cover the most important cognitive domains, i.e., attention, memory and learning, executive control, language and visuospatial function. The available empirical evidence suggests that cognitive changes in patients with cerebellar dysfunction are mild and clearly less severe than the impairments observed after lesions to neocortical areas to which the cerebellum is closely connected via different cerebro-cerebellar loops. Frequently cited early findings, e.g., with respect to a specific cerebellar involvement in attention, have not been replicated or might be confounded by motor or working memory demands of the respective attention task. On the other hand, there is now convincing evidence for a cerebellar involvement in the mediation of a range of cognitive domains, most notably verbal working memory. Verbal working memory problems may partly underlie the compromised performance of cerebellar lesion patients on at least some complex cognitive tasks. Although investigations have moved from anecdotal case reports to hypothesis-driven controlled clinical group studies based on sound methods which are complemented by state-of-the-art functional neuroimaging studies, the empirical evidence available so far does not yet allow a convincing theory of the mechanisms of a cerebellar involvement in cognitive function. Future studies are clearly needed to further elucidate the nature of the processes linked to cerebellar mediation of cognitive processes and their possible link to motor theories of cerebellar function, e.g., its role in prediction and/or timing.

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J Learn Disabil. 2007 May-Jun;40(3):203-9.
Efficacy of an intervention to improve fluency in children with developmental dyslexia in a regular orthography.
Tressoldi PE, Vio C, Iozzino R.
Department of General Psychology, Padova University, Italy. patrizio.tressoldi@unipd.it

The purpose of this study was to examine the efficacy of a method to improve reading fluency in children with dyslexia. The method, which we named "subsyllabic," was aimed at automatizing the recognition of syllables within words in connected texts, presented by ad hoc software. Two versions of this method--one self-paced and the other one with automatic syllable identification-were compared to a method based on phonemic awareness, assisted reading, and other psycholinguistic exercises. The efficacy of the two versions of the subsyllabic method was further studied by repeating the first version twice and the second version three times using an AB design, with each phase lasting approximately 3 months. This part of the study provided not only follow-up data but also useful information on if and how fluency may change after repeated treatment. Outcomes obtained by a total of 63 children with dyslexia suggested that the subsyllabic method was superior to the control method and that the use of an automatic presentation of target syllables produced better results. Furthermore, we observed that fluency improved approximately at the same rate after each treatment repetition. Our data support the possibility of improving reading fluency at a significant clinical level, at least for regular orthographies. The crucial component of the subsyllabic method seems to be the facilitation of syllable recognition within words in connected texts and the emphasis on their rapid recognition using an automatized procedure.

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Phytomedicine. 2007 May 19; [Epub ahead of print]
Ginkgo biloba in dyslexia: A pilot study.
Donfrancesco R, Ferrante L.
Department of Child Neuropsychiatry, La Scarpetta Hospital, Piazza Castellani 23, 00151 Rome, Italy.

OBJECTIVES: The purpose of this study was to collect preliminary information on the possible efficacy and tolerability of EGb 761 standardized plant extract of Ginkgo biloba as a treatment of dyslexia in school-aged children. METHODS: Fifteen children (5-16 year old) with dyslexia participated in an open-label trial of EGb 761 given as a single morning dose of 80mg. Standardized tests for dyslexia were administered at baseline and at the end of the study. RESULTS: All 15 children completed the trial. The score of the standardized tests for dyslexia decreased. On the list of words the score decreased from mean 4.33 (SD=2.37) at baseline to 2.66 (SD=1.58) at the end of the study (p<0.01), on the list of non-words from mean 3.39 (SD=1.5) at baseline to 2.26 (SD=0.92) at the end of the study (p<0.02) and on the reading piece from mean 3.52 (SD=2.11) to 2.13 (SD=1.25); at the end of the study (p<0.05). At the end of the study 9 children did not perform below the -2 SD on the list of words and 7 on reading text and so they no longer fulfilled the DSM-IV-TR criteria for dyslexia. A brief period of headache was reported by the parents of two children. CONCLUSION: These data suggest that EGb 761 standardized plant extract of Ginkgo biloba has acceptable acute tolerability at single doses up to 80mg/day and is possibly efficacious in decreasing dyslexia difficulties. The need for a double-blind trial is discussed by the authors.

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J Fr Ophtalmol. 2007 Apr;30(4):380-9.
[Proprioception changes induced by prismatic glasses wear in children suffering from developmental dyslexia]
[Article in French]
Quercia P, Seigneuric A, Chariot S, Bron A, Creuzot-Garcher C, Robichon F.
Service d'Ophtalmologie, CHU, Dijon, France. quercia.patrick@neuf.fr

PURPOSE: To evaluate the consequences of proprioception changes induced by a postural treatment on cognitive disturbances in children suffering from developmental dyslexia. MATERIAL: and methods: Twenty male dyslexic children were treated with prisms within their spectacles and a postural treatment. A control group of dyslexics (n=13) only received spectacles without prisms. All participants were evaluated at the beginning of the study and 6 months later with reading impairment tests and postural examinations. RESULTS: Mean age was 11 years and 5 months in the treated group and 11 years and 7 months in the control group. Four children were excluded from the 6-month analysis because of poor compliance. All dyslexic children presented with a postural deficiency syndrome. In 13 out of 16 treated children, dyslexia was improved at 6 months, especially for the global leximetric test and the reading of regular and irregular words. However, the treatment did not allow a complete recovery of reading ability when compared with age-matched individuals. CONCLUSION: Our results show that postural modifications may favorably influence some clinical signs associated with developmental dyslexia. Further studies with a larger sample and with a longer follow-up period are required to better assess the role of postural treatment in developmental dyslexia.

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Dyslexia. 2007 Feb;13(1):25-41.
Dyslexia at a behavioural and a cognitive level.
Helland T.
Department of Biological and Medical Psychology, University of Bergen, Norway. turid.helland@psysp.uib.no

The aim of this study was to see whether patterns of neuro-cognitive assets and deficits seen in dyslexia also would lead to different patterns of reading and writing. A group of dyslexic children was subgrouped by language comprehension and mathematics skills in accordance with the definition of the British Dyslexia Association of 1998. This yielded three subgroups that showed three distinct neurocognitive profiles depicted within the Multi-Component Model of Working Memory. The participants were tested with single word reading and spelling tasks. The scores varied only to a minor degree between the subgroups. The results were discussed in view of developmental phases into literacy. Only one subgroup could be defined within the orthographic phase, while the other two were within the alphabetic phase. Thus, patterns at the neuro-cognitive level seen in the subgroups were to a limited degree reflected at the behavioural level. The results were also discussed in view of different orthographies. Since using information from phonological testing only, as currently appears to be common practice in many contexts, may result in intervention with little effect for some dyslexics, it was concluded that assessing neuro-cognitive assets and deficits targeting dyslexia is essential to intervention and the understanding of dyslexia.

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Complement Ther Clin Pract. 2007 Feb;13(1):15-24. Epub 2006 Dec 15.
Sunflower therapy for children with specific learning difficulties (dyslexia): A randomised, controlled trial.
Bull L.
Department of Education, Brunel University, Twickenham, TW1 1PT, UK; School of Life Sciences, Roehampton University, London SW15 3SN, UK.

The aim of the study was to determine the clinical and perceived effectiveness of the Sunflower therapy in the treatment of childhood dyslexia. The Sunflower therapy includes applied kinesiology, physical manipulation, massage, homeopathy, herbal remedies and neuro-linguistic programming. A multi-centred, randomised controlled trial was undertaken with 70 dyslexic children aged 6-13 years. The research study aimed to test the research hypothesis that dyslexic children 'feel better' and 'perform better' as a result of treatment by the Sunflower therapy. Children in the treatment group and the control group were assessed using a battery of standardised cognitive, Literacy and self-esteem tests before and after the intervention. Parents of children in the treatment group gave feedback on their experience of the Sunflower therapy. Test scores were compared using the Mann Whitney, and Wilcoxon statistical tests. While both groups of children improved in some of their test scores over time, there were no statistically significant improvements in cognitive or Literacy test performance associated with the treatment. However, there were statistically significant improvements in academic self-esteem, and reading self-esteem, for the treatment group. The majority of parents (57.13%) felt that the Sunflower therapy was effective in the treatment of learning difficulties. Further research is required to verify these findings, and should include a control group receiving a dummy treatment to exclude placebo effects.

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Eur J Paediatr Neurol. 2007 Jan;11(1):21-8. Epub 2006 Dec 13.
Methylphenidate improves reading performance in children with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder and comorbid dyslexia: An unblinded clinical trial.
Keulers EH, Hendriksen JG, Feron FJ, Wassenberg R, Wuisman-Frerker MG, Jolles J, Vles JS.
Department of Psychiatry and Neuropsychology, Brain and Behaviour Institute, Maastricht University, Dr. Tanslaan 12, P.O. Box 616, 6200 MD Maastricht, The Netherlands.

Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) and dyslexia are frequently co-occurring disorders. Although methylphenidate (MPH) is the primary treatment for ADHD, the effect on reading in children with these comorbid problems is not yet known. This study was an unblinded clinical trial to evaluate the reading performance before and after treatment with MPH. Reading performance was compared with General Linear Model repeated measures between three groups: (1) an experimental group of children with both ADHD and dyslexia (N=24), (2) a control group of children with ADHD (N=9) and (3) a control group of children with dyslexia (N=10). MPH improved reading performance significantly stronger in the experimental group than in the control groups; the number of correctly read words increased to a larger extent. In conclusion, MPH proved to be an aid in the reading process of children with ADHD and comorbid dyslexia by improving the learning conditions, but MPH cannot cure the reading disorder. Future research should study the effect of MPH on reading in a double-blind clinical trial.

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J Hum Genet. 2007;52(2):104-9. Epub 2006 Nov 17.
Developmental dyslexia: an update.
Shastry BS.
Department of Biological Sciences, Oakland University, Rochester, MI, 48309, USA, shastry@oakland.edu.

Dyslexia is the most common and carefully studied of the learning disabilities in school-age children. It is characterized by a marked impairment in the development of reading skills, and affects a large number of people (5-10%). Reading difficulties may also arise from poor vision, emotional problems, decreased hearing ability, and behavioral disorders, such as attention-deficit hyperactivity (ADHD). Although many areas of the brain are involved in reading, analysis of postmortem brain specimens by a variety of imaging techniques most consistently suggests that deficiency within a specific component of the language system-the phonologic module-in the temporo-parietal-occipital brain region underlies dyslexia. It is a highly familial and heritable disorder with susceptibility loci on chromosomes 1, 2, 3, 6, 11, 13, 15 and 18. Recently, four candidate genes (KIAA 0319, DYX1C1, DCDC2 and ROBO1) are shown to be associated with dyslexia. Although some of these results are controversial because of the genetic heterogeneity of the disorder, the available evidence suggests that dyslexia could be due to the abnormal migration and maturation of neurons during early development. Interestingly, in spite of genetic heterogeneity, the pathology appears to involve common phonological coding deficits. The condition can be managed by a highly structured educational training exercise.

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Am Fam Physician. 2006 Dec 15;74(12):2079-84.
Evaluation of children with reading difficulties.
Hamilton SS, Glascoe FP.
Underwood-Memorial Hospital Family Medicine Residency, Woodbury, New Jersey, USA. sutton.hamilton@gmail.com

Reading difficulties are common and are associated with poor long-term academic achievement. Evaluation of a child's developmental, educational, and family histories in conjunction with standardized screening tests (e.g., Ages and Stages Questionnaires, Parents' Evaluation of Developmental Status, Safety Word Inventory and Literacy Screener) can increase recognition of risk factors for reading difficulties. Validated, office-based, standardized screening tests and school-administered standardized achievement tests (e.g., California Achievement Tests, Iowa Tests of Basic Skills, Metropolitan Achievement Tests, Stanford Achievement Test) can be used to assess school-age children with reading difficulties. Reading difficulties in children often are caused by environmental and organic risk factors. However, many children have reading or learning disabilities and will have lifelong difficulties with reading despite adequate intervention. Children with substantial reading difficulties should receive a full educational assessment. There is good evidence that individualized instruction emphasizing increased phonologic awareness can have a favorable long-term effect on academic achievement.
  
Previous Dyslexia Research: 2002-2006   
The Dyslexia File also contains summaries of past research that has shown promise and may still be standard practice among many physicians. To download earlier research findings on Dyslexia, click HERE.
 

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