Dyslexia

Dys------trouble lexia------words

Dyslexia=trouble with words

Langsford Learning Acceleration Centers recently had the honor of participating in a teleconference with dyslexia expert, Tim Conway. Tim Conway is director of the Morris Center in Gainesville, FL, (which evaluates and treats language-based learning difficulties) and an investigator at the Brain Rehabilitation Center, also in Gainesville.

Some important facts about dyslexia:

Dyslexia is neurobiological in origin. (In other words, it is genetic and tends to run in families.)

Dyslexia is a lifelong diagnosis, although one's environment may alter its course. (Meaning that intervention can, in some cases, significantly diminish the effects of dyslexia.) Click here to read about what kind of remedial plan Langsford offers.

The core deficit of dyslexia is an instability in the phonological component of language. (In other words, the primary symptom of dyslexia is difficulty with distinguishing and manipulating the individual sounds in words.)

Research shows that regular and intense multi-sensory work to develop a brain process can result in strengthened neural pathways that are observable on a brain scan. (Put another way, "what fires together, wires together." Linking visual, auditory, and articulatory processes can result in improvement in how one's brain processes input.) Click here for more about brain rewiring.

Lastly, having dyslexia does not mean that one won't be successful in life. (John Kennedy, Thomas Edison, Leonardo DaVinci, Cher, Harrison Ford, Whoopi Goldberg, and Steven Spielberg all have dyslexia!)

More on Brain Rewiring

We know that brain scans have proven remedial instruction in reading can improve one's decoding skills. But what about spelling? Can remedial work in spelling rewire the brain in the same fashion? Research indicates it can!

Researchers have found that humans code words in three forms while learning to spell. Each of the three draw on different, unique brain circuits. The brain codes words by their sound (phonology), the parts of the words that signal meaning and grammar (morphology), and by their visual or written form (orthography).

Research indicates that it is work related to the orthography of words that leads to changes in the brain. Orthographic instruction should include strategies for focusing on and remembering the letters in written words. This type of instruction has been proven to alter brain activity, causing poor spellers' brain scans to more closely resemble scans of good spellers. I'm happy to report that it is an orthographic approach that Langsford Learning Acceleration Centers use to improve spelling!

For more information on this research, click here.

Langsford Learning Acceleration Centers

Where Your Child is Our Center!

(502) 473-7000

Brain Rewiring in Children

"GET HELP WITH YOUR READING! YOU'LL BE GLAD YOU DID!"

Exciting news for struggling readers! A recent article in Science Daily discusses how scientists have uncovered evidence that intensive instruction to improve reading skills in young children causes the brain to physically rewire itself.

Researchers report that a study using brain imagery to compare the brains of good readers and poor readers showed that the quality of white matter (brain tissue that carries signals between areas of the brain where information is processed) improved substantially for poor readers who received 100 hours of remedial instruction.

The study showed a direct correlation between this improvement and improved reading skills. More specifically, the amount of change in the white matter was directly related to the amount of increase in phonological decoding ability!

Still skeptical? The control group, which contained both good and poor readers, did not receive the remedial instruction and their brain scans did not show any changes. This lack of change shows that the changes in the treated group cannot be attributed to natural maturation during the course of the study.

If you'd like information on the remedial instruction offered at Langsford Learning Acceleration Centers, please contact us.

Langsford Learning Acceleration Centers

Where Your Child is Our Center

weteachreading.com

(502) 473-7000