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Complete details about the intervention program -- a three-week reading and science workshop developed by Berninger -- will be published next fall in the journal Learning Disability Quarterly. The intervention draws on elements of existing treatments, putting them together in a novel way.

In the workshop the boys were taught to analyze sound in spoken words, to attach sounds to letters automatically and to use different strategies for translating written words into spoken words. The treatment was novel because it took advantage of the boys' talent and interest in science and technology. It linked reading instruction with a hands-on science workshop that used materials from Seattle's Pacific Science Center. The workshop is only one of a number of dyslexic treatments being developed at the UW.

The current study builds on previous UW research showing that there are chemical differences in brain function of dyslexic and non-dyslexic children during sound processing tasks.

Fifteen boys -- eight dyslexics and seven non-dyslexics -- were involved in the new study. The boys ranged in age from 10 to 13 years and the dyslexic and control groups were matched for age, IQ and head size, but not in reading skills. The controls were above average readers for their age and learned to read very easily. The dyslexics had delayed reading skills and were reading well below average for their age group. They also had a family history of multi-generational dyslexia.

Both groups underwent spectroscopic imaging at the beginning of the study. The dyslexic boys then entered the treatment program that was designed to improve their phonological abilities or skills in understanding and using the sounds of language. About a year after the first imaging session, the dyslexics' reading skills were tested and both groups were imaged again using the same tests to evaluate the lo
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Contact: Joel Schwarz
joels@u.washington.edu
206-543-2580
University of Washington
23-May-2000