Lynn Flowers, Ph.D., a co-researcher and assistant professor of neuropsychology, said the study demonstrates that lifelong dyslexic individuals integrate visual and auditory information differently than good readers. "The study did not use letters and speech sounds, suggesting that there may be a very basic sensory integration deficit in dyslexia that underlies reading difficulties," Flowers said.
Wallace said the finding suggests better ways to teach people with reading disabilities.
"We believe that the most effective approaches will use a combination of visual and auditory cues," he said. "Because the brain is very changeable in young children, we hope that by using such methods early, we could change the brain's architecture so that the children could process sight and sound normally."
He said the finding provides a basis for the effectiveness of a method called the Orton-Gillingham approach that relies on the use of sight and sound together to teach reading.
Wallace said the test could be used for early diagnosis because it doesn't involve reading, just the ability to push a button when a light comes on.
The researchers are now using functional magnetic resonance imaging, a technology for viewing the brain and seeing which areas "light up" when they are activated, to learn more about the disorder.
"We're exploring what happens in the brain when a person with dyslexia reads," said Wallace. "The future is exciting. We hope this is the first in a long series of studies to learn more about this common and often debilitating
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Contact: Karen Richardson or Shannon Koontz
krchrdsn@wfubmc.edu
336-716-4587
Wake Forest University Baptist Medical Center
9-Nov-2003