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Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) may allow doctors to diagnose dyslexia in children earlier, reports a studypublished August 14. Researchers from Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) and Boston Children’s Hospital examined the scans of 40 young children with poor pre-reading skills. They found changes in a particular brain structure, the arcuate fasciculus, which “connects brain areas activated in speech and language processes,” according to Elizabeth Norton, a lead author of the study. Other studies showed adults with dyslexia had changes to the same area of the brain.
About one in five people have dyslexia, reports the Yale Center for Dyslexia and Creativity. Dyslexia is described by WebMD as a learning disability that makes it difficult “to break the letters of written words into the distinct sounds (or phonemes) of their language, a capability called phonological awareness.” Currently, a dyslexia diagnosis is not made until children reach second or third grade.
In this study, scientists compared the MRI scans of 40 children, between the ages of four and six, with several “pre-reading tests.” The researchers found “a correlation between the size and organization of the arcuate fasciculus and performance on tests of phonological awareness — the ability to identify and manipulate the sounds of language.”
The study authors wanted to see if the same brain changes found in adults with dyslexia would be seen in young children, according to MIT. The researchers do not know what causes these brain changes, but are continuing to study this area. "We do not know how many of these children will go on to develop problems. But anyway, we want to intervene before that, and the younger you do that the better. We already know that reading programmes and interventions can really help,” said John Gabrieli, a senior author of the study.
The study "Tracking the roots of reading ability: White matter volume and integrity correlate with phonological awareness in prereading and early-reading kindergarten children" is in the Journal of Neuroscience.
This study is part of on going research involving MIT and Boston Children’s Hospital called the READ study. The goal of the READ study is “to understand how brain differences in kindergarten children might predict their reading ability in 2nd grade.” To date, over 1,000 children have participated in the READ study.
Information on dyslexia is available from the Yale Center for Dyslexia and Creativity and the International Dyslexia Association.
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This article was first published by me on Examiner.com
©Mary M Conneely T/A Advocacy in Action
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