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For comprehensive information and useful materials go to
About
Dyslexia.
Novel
Discovery Of 'DCDC2' Gene Associated With Dyslexia Pediatric
researchers at Yale School of Medicine have identified a gene on human
chromosome 6 called DCDC2, which is linked to dyslexia, a reading
disability affecting millions of children and adults. >
full story
New
Support For Disabled Research Students A
team from the University of Newcastle upon Tyne has developed the
world's first web-based resource aimed at supporting disabled research
students through their courses. The resource was developed after
research by the University found that many of these students faced
barriers in most higher education institutions which hindered progress
and dampened confidence.
>
full story
Scientists
Listen To Brain Patterns Of Tone-deafness
Tone deafness -- or amusia -- can be congenital,
present from birth, or acquired following injury to the brain. In a new
study, researchers now report the first objective measurement of the
brain deficit in congenital amusia. >
full story
Atypical
Brain Activity Detected in People with Dyslexia
Brain imaging studies at the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH)
have revealed dramatic evidence of a deficit in the brain's visual system
in people with dyslexia, a disorder that
affects the reading ability of millions of American school children and
adults. While it has been commonly believed that only the language related
areas of the brain are affected in dyslexia,
this study adds to the growing body of research pointing to dysfunction of
another portion of the brain known as V5/MT.
Using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI), NIH scientists
Guinevere Eden, D.Phil., and colleagues demonstrated in a small controlled
study of adult males that people with dyslexia
showed no activation in the V5/MT
brain area, which specializes in movement perception. Dr. Eden's
research confirms that people with dyslexia,
hobbled by problems with reading, writing, and spelling, have trouble
processing specific visual information. "We found that maps of brain
activity measured while subjects were given a visual task of looking at
moving dots were very different in individuals with dyslexia
compared to normal control subjects," said Dr. Eden.
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EurekAlert!
Poor
Reading Skills Have Both Physical, Environmental Causes
Reading problems in young children may be influenced
by a combination of both neurological and environmental factors, according
to a new study.
A
new way of seeing dyslexia
The most well-known
symptoms of dyslexia are language-based. Though many sufferers have an
average or above average IQ (and, not uncommonly, a proficiency in math),
they'll also have a poor visual memory for language symbols. Often there
are problems of letter and word reversal, and difficulties in finding the
right word, fluency, meaning, or sequence. All these symptoms point to an
abnormality in the language centers of the brain. But a new theory
suggests that the abnormalities may be occurring in a very different
place. John Stein of Oxford University thinks that the malady might
represent a widespread neurological phenomenon that traces its roots to
fetal development, and may be triggered by the immune system of the
mother. - Discovery
Canada
Brains
of Lefties Organized Differently
For the
first time, UCLA researchers have determined that genetics plays a
significant role in shaping brain structure and influences the brains of
left-handed and right-handed people differently. Reported in March's
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, the findings may offer
insights into autism, dyslexia and stuttering
-- language disorders more prevalent in left-handers.
Scientists have long known that the left side of the brain typically
controls the right side of the body and vice versa. That's why the
language control center for most right-handed people operates from the
left side of the brain. But the organization of left-handed people's
brains has never been fully understood.
"Ninety percent of the world is right-handed," explained Dr.
Daniel Geschwind, UCLA assistant professor of neurology and principal
investigator. "Close to 99 percent of these people have language
localized in the left hemispheres of their brains. But previous studies
have shown that left-handed people don't mirror this model. We wanted to
determine whether genetics explained this difference." -
Newswise
Fish
Oils "Help to Improve Dyslexics' Concentration"
Children with dyslexia and other learning
problems can benefit from being fed fish oils, scientists will reported
last week. Researchers from Imperial College School of Medicine in
London and the University of Oxford found that children given the oils
were less anxious, more able to concentrate and significantly better
behaved than before. Their results will be presented at the British Dyslexia
Association's conference at York University alongside other work
suggesting that a bodily deficiency of fats of the type found in fish oil
may cause, or at least exacerbate, problems in some children who have
trouble with their reading and behavior.
Simpler
spellings 'would make life easier for dyslexics'
A
study of dyslexic adults has shown that simplifying English spellings
could be one way to help sufferers. It also confirmed that the cause
of the reading difficulty was a brain disorder. Experiments showed for the
first time last week that the neurological cause of dyslexia
is the same in sufferers across Europe. But the disorder appears to be
twice as common here as in Italy because English has a more complex
writing system, or orthography, than Italian, which is more phonetic.
Dyslexia:
Risk Gene Is Identified
Scientists
at the universities of Marburg, Würzburg and Bonn together with Swedish
colleagues from the Karolinska Institute in Stockholm have identified a
gene contributing to the development of dyslexia in German children.
>
full story
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Brain
Images Show Individual Dyslexic Children Respond To Spelling Treatment
Brain
images of individual children with dyslexia before they received
spelling instruction show they have different patterns of brain activity
than do good spellers when doing language tasks. But after specialized
treatment, they show similar patterns of brain activity, showing the
human brain can change and normalize in response to spelling
instruction.
>
full story
New Dyslexia Theory Blames 'Noise' -- Poor Filtering Of Unwanted Data
May Be Root Cause Kids with dyslexia can't block out distractions,
say a group of new studies. The results cast doubt on an influential
neurological model of dyslexia developed in the 1970s. >
full story
Reading Disabilities Put Students At Risk For Suicidal Thoughts And
Behavior And Dropping Out Of School Teenagers with reading problems
are at significantly higher risk for suicide and for dropping out of
school than typical readers, according to a study by Wake Forest
University Baptist Medical Center researchers. >
full story
Making The Connection Between A Sound And A Reward Changes Brain And
Behavior If you've ever wondered how you recognize your mother's
voice without seeing her face or how you discern your cell phone's ring
in a crowded room, researchers may have another piece of the answer. >
full storyFinger
Length Helps Predict Elementary Exam Results, Study Shows The
results of numeracy and literacy tests for seven-year-old children can
be predicted by measuring the length of their fingers, shows new
research. >
full story
 Advances
In Genetics Should Make Learning Easier, According To Professor
There is a revolution in brain scanning,
genetics, and other biological technologies illuminating the learning
process, but still, most teachers and students aren't getting much
benefit from them, according to a Harvard professor.
>
full story
Finding Math Hard? Blame Your Right Parietal Lobe Scientists have,
for the first time, induced difficulties with mathematics (dyscalculia)
in subjects who normally find math easy. The study, which finds that the
right parietal lobe is responsible for dyscalculia, potentially has
implications for diagnosis and management through remedial teaching. >
full story
NYU
Neuroscientist Explores Changes In The Brain Following Hearing Loss
In the United States alone, 28 million people have
some degree of hearing impairment. The problem is particularly severe in
childhood, when deafness can have a profound impact on intellectual and
emotional development.
Immune
Proteins Play Role In Brain Development And Remodeling; Discovery Suggests
New Theory For Dyslexia, Parkinson's Disease And Multiple Sclerosis
Two immune proteins found in the brains of mice help the brain develop and
may play key roles in triggering developmental disorders like dyslexia and
neurodegenerative disorders like Parkinson's Disease, according to a
Harvard Medical School study reported in today's issue of Science.
Treatment
Helps Dyslexics Significantly Improve Reading, Shows Brain Changes As
Children Learn A novel treatment for dyslexia not only helps
children to significantly improve their reading skills but also shows that
the brain changes as dyslexics learn, according to a study by an
interdisciplinary team of University of Washington scientists.
Brain
Structure May Play Role in Children's Ability To Learn To Read
Brain
structure and hand preference may be as important as environment in
influencing a child's ability to learn to read, according to a University
of Florida Brain Institute study. The seven-year study of 39 Alachua
County students from kindergarten to sixth grade indicates that while
children from a lower socioeconomic class may be at risk for reading
failure, the detrimental effects of environment are greatly increased in
children with unusual brain asymmetry.
NICHD-Funded
Researchers Map Physical Basis Of Dyslexia
A Yale research team funded by the National Institute of
Child Health and Human Development (NICHD) has used sophisticated brain
imaging technology to show that there is decreased functioning while
performing reading tasks in certain brain regions of individuals with the
most common form of dyslexia.
Dyslexic
Children Use Nearly Five Times The Brain Area To Perform An Ordinary
Language Task As Normal Children
Dyslexic children use nearly five times the brain area as
normal children while performing a simple language task, according to a
new study by an interdisciplinary team of University of Washington
researchers.
UCSF-Led
Team Offers New Insight Into Neurological Basis Of Dyslexia
Researchers are reporting direct neurological evidence that
the region of the brain that processes brief, rapidly successive sounds is
functionally abnormal in adults with the reading disability known as
dyslexia.
NYU
Neuroscientist Explores Changes In The Brain Following Hearing Loss
In the United States alone, 28 million people have some
degree of hearing impairment. The problem is particularly severe in
childhood, when deafness can have a profound impact on intellectual and
emotional development. NYU neuroscientist Dan H. Sanes works to understand
how deafness affects the growth and function of the central nervous
system, and how these effects might be averted or reversed.
UF
Study: Students Improve Reading Skills By Tutoring Younger Kids
High
school students struggling with reading can improve their skills
significantly over short periods of time by becoming tutors to younger
students, a University of Florida study has found. In the
seven-month span that students were tested last year, the tutors' reading
comprehension grew as much as it would have in two years without the
program, and their reading skills grew as much as they would have in a
year and four months, the study shows. Their vocabulary skills and
attitudes toward reading also improved.
For comprehensive information and useful materials go to
About
Dyslexia.
|
