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NEWS ITEMS
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News and Research
New
Clues to Learning Disability Found -
A study finds
that delayed brain development and puberty may slow children down. Normal
but slowed brain development and the onset of puberty may be important factors
in learning disorders such as dyslexia, a new study reports.The
study, which appears in the June 21-25 online edition of the Proceedings of the
National Academy of Sciences, suggests that children with learning disabilities
may have immature brains that simply didn't have the time needed to develop properly.The
researchers from Northwestern University found that children with dyslexia showed
brain development that was about two to four years younger than their chronological
age. (June 2004).
Children's
brains with dyslexia respond abnormally to language stimuli -
Nine-year-old
Patrick Price bounced up to the huge MRI machine, a powerful brain scanner disguised
by drapes to resemble a kid-friendly castle. Inside, he lay nearly motionless
as words and symbols flashed on a screen before his eyes. Patrick is one of 80
Maryland youngsters with the reading disability dyslexia who are letting scientists
peer inside their brains. The goal: to learn just what goes wrong when dyslexic
children try to read and whether certain commercial teaching methods can make
the brain rewire itself to read better.
- No
Child Left behind - Wrightslaw - Information about
how the new USA 'No Child Left Behind' legislation will affect you, frequently
asked questions, regulations, guidance, etc.
Unraveling
Dyslexic Brains -
Researchers at
the University of Washington in Seattle are making strides understanding how dyslexic
brains work. Developmental neuropsychologist Virginia Berninger, Ph.D., and neurophysicist
Todd Richards, Ph.D., lead a team of researchers whose studies have shown that
the brains of children with dyslexia work about five times harder than other children's
brains when performing the same language task. You think you're tired at the end
of a school day? Imagine if your brain had to work five times harder!
Vouchers
Don't Help Disabled Students -
About 77 percent
of private schools taking tax dollars to educate disabled students don't offer
special classes for disabled children. A Palm Beach Post examination of the 641
private schools taking McKay vouchers in Florida found that 496 reported on a
state Department of Education form that they do not have classes "specifically
designed to meet the needs of children with exceptionalities." At The Foundation
Academy in Jacksonville, for example, about 70 of the school's 240 students use
McKay vouchers, mostly for learning disabilities. But the school's teachers are
not certified in Florida to teach special education -- they aren't Florida-certified
to teach at all, although they do have college degrees.
- Mother
queries dyslexic 'cure' - It
has been heralded as a miracle cure for dyslexic children. The Dyslexia,
Dyspraxia and Attention Deficit Disorder Treatment Centre (DDAT) claims 97% of kids see significant improvement after completing its courses,
which can cost up to £1,500. The
Midland company suggests that the condition can be beaten by simple balancing
exercises - like catching bean-bags, walking downstairs backwards or standing
on a wobble-board. But
one mum who splashed out nearly £1,000 for a year-long course for her child says
it was a waste of money. And
now academic experts are raising doubts about the effectiveness of the controversial
treatment. The multi-millionaire founder of DDAT, business boss Wynford Dore,
has rubbished the criticism and says he has thousands of satisfied customers.
Wake
Forest School of Medicine Develops Simple Test for Dyslexia
- Researchers at the Wake Forest University School of Medicine have come up with
a simple test that they think can identify dyslexics and help them find the right
treatment. "We're not clinicians here but we try to sort of think outside the
box," said Mark Wallace, an associate professor of neurobiology and anatomy. The
experiment is simple. People sit down in front of a screen and a console with
two keys. Two lights flash in quick succession while a subtle sound is conveyed
through headphones. The subject pushes a button to indicate which light flashed
first. The lights are flashed so quickly that people only get the correct answer
50 percent of the time when no sound is used. With the sound, performance improves.
(Nov 2003)
- New
typeface to help dyslexics
- Dyslexics who have trouble reading words online and in print may soon find relief
in a new typeface being developed by a Dutch designer. Unlike traditional typefaces,
which re-use the same forms for multiple letters - such as b and d, or p and q
- the 'Read Regular' typeface makes each letter significantly unique so that dyslexics
can more easily distinguish one character from another. (Oct 2003)
Fatty
acid deficiency signs predict the severity of reading and related problems in
dyslexic children - academic article by John Stein and others publishing research
evidence of the symptoms of fatty acid deficiency in dyslexic children, which
are usually counteracted by giving children fish oil tablets daily.
- 'TIME'
magazine article on dyslexia (August
31st 2003) gives an excellent overview of dyslexia symptoms and recent research.The
article points out that 'Boys and girls are equally likely to suffer from dyslexia'
(as also emerged from Direct Learning's recent research: in a group of 100 randomly
picked dyslexic children, there were 54 boys and 46 girls. It seems that the boys
are noticed more often by teachers because of their behavior.)
Dyslexic
children's brains operate more like those of normal readers following training
designed to help them hear sounds in words. For the first time, researchers have shown that the brains of dyslexic children can be rewired -- after undergoing intensive remediation training -- to function more like those found in normal readers. The training program, which is designed to help dyslexics understand rapidly changing sounds that are the building blocks of language, helped the participants become better readers after just eight weeks.
For the first time, researchers have shown that the brains of dyslexic children can be rewired -- after undergoing intensive remediation training -- to function more like those found in normal readers.
The training program, which is designed to help dyslexics understand rapidly changing sounds that are the building blocks of language, helped the participants become better readers after just eight weeks.
Schools Can't Tackle Nicola's dyslexia - A disability rights campaigner says he was forced to pull his 12-year-old daughter out of school because of the "pathetic" levels of care provided for dyslexic children in Gloucester, UK.
Bright
Lights Hope for Dyslexics - Flashing
lights are being used in a computer program designed to help dyslexics with reading
and writing skills. The makers say trials have shown a dramatic improvement in both adults and children with dyslexia. They claim children who went through the six-week programme advanced their reading age by 11 months. Under the programme, a person's heart is monitored and they are shown flashing lights and colors.
- Early speech difficulties may predict dyslexia - Based at the University of Copenhagen, Denmark, Professor Carsten Elbro has run an eight-year project following dyslexic children through their schooling. Whilst many of the findings supported other research, his group also discovered that young dyslexic children are not so good at pronouncing multi-syllabic words as their peers. In a game with puppets who could not quite get the word out, 4/6-year olds were encouraged to 'help' the puppet by saying the correct word. An example was the word 'crocodile': the puppet could only say "co-di", and the children called out the correct pronuniciation. It seems that the children who later turned out to have literacy difficulties were less good at saying 'crocodile' clearly. Carsten Enbro.
Breath
test for dyslexia' -
A simple breath test
could identify children with dyslexia, attention deficit disorder and behavioral
problems before they start school and ensure they are given essential nutrients
to feed the brain. This method of biochemical testing can identify children who are deficient in the Omega 3 essential fatty acids EPA and DHA that are needed by the brain and lacking in today's junk-food diet. The test is non-invasive, and so simple that it can be done on pre-schoolchildren. All a child has to do is to put his mouth around a disposable tube and blow out a single breath for as long as he can.
By measuring the amount of ethane, the breakdown product of Omega 3, the test can show which children and adults could benefit from Omega 3 and Omega 6 supplements - high-grade fish oil and evening primrose.
The test, developed by Marion Ross at the Highland Psychiatric Research Foundation, was used on school children for the first time this year in a large-scale study in Co. Durham UK carried out by the Dyslexic Research Trust and the local education authority. (Nov 11th 02)
Fashionable 'cures' for dyslexia - York University (UK) dyslexia expert Professor Maggie Snowling advised caution regarding some of the much-publicized 'cures' for dyslexia, speaking at the Dyslexia Institute's London conference on November 23rd. She commented that taking fish oil impacted more on attention and behavior issues which only affect some dyslexic children. In any case, the 480 mg per day dose that has been used in experiments is equivalent to 8 capsules per day - a challenge for anyone not a dedicated hypochondriac! I guess it would help keep them afloat during swimming lessons! She went on to point out that tinted lenses prevent headaches in some dyslexic children who experience a glare from text on a white page, but do not offer a cure for difficulties with literacy. Similarly, the much-publicized balance exercises seem to improve reading speed but not necessarily reading accuracy. As far as I can see, the only effective treatment for dyslexia in children is a structured phonic program in a one-on-one situation, backed up by confidence-building. (John Bradford) Maggie Snowling.
Parents
form dyslexic kids support group - Mary Russon of Lindon, Utah, is heading a group of frustrated parents of dyslexic
children. Three parents were designated to voice their concerns before the board.
The parents come from all over the Alpine School District and met on Sept.16 to
discuss what they could do to consolidate information, support one another and
organize themselves to work together to initiate change in the schools. Russon
had spent the past six years seeking help for her daughter Kim, who is now 12.
She met with Kim's teachers each year to ask that Kim be tested for dyslexia.
- Dyslexia didn't hold back author - Cedric Hurtt is a published children's book author. His books sit on the shelves of local bookstores, candy for word hungry children. But not too long ago, he couldn't have read all of the words in his books. Hurtt always knew there was something wrong with the way he saw words. He knew that he often read the word "was" as "saw". He knew that he struggled, but he didn't know why.
-
Man
sues school governors over failure to diagnose dyslexia (UK) -
A man who claims his old school's failure to diagnose and deal with his dyslexia
wrecked his education and employment prospects is suing for more than £400,000
in compensation. (Sep 9, 2002).
- Boy's dyslexia spotted days before exams - A boy who desperately struggled with lessons during his entire school life was told he was dyslexic, just four days before his vital GCSE exams (Aug 27, 2002).
- Dyslexia and Blood Pressure - Many dyslexic children come from families with a history of lower blood pressure - adding weight to theories of a common cause of the disorder. One possibility is that dyslexics have too much of a particular body chemical called phospholipid platelet activating factor (PAF) Blood vessel function.
-
- Cause of Dyslexia on Chromosome 18 - A pre-school test to identify children with a predisposition to dyslexia might be possible in the future with the discovery of a genetic link to the disorder.A study of more than 200 families of children who are dyslexic has revealed that a region of chromosome 18 – one of the 23 pairs of human chromosomes – is strongly associated with the condition.
Scientists from the Wellcome Trust Centre for Human Genetics in Oxford say that the biggest dyslexia study of its kind has identified what could turn out to be the most important gene involved in causing dyslexia.
- Kenya Dyslexia Conference - William Ferguson, editor of our huge 'Resources' page, reports on the annual Kenyan Schools Dyslexia Conference: Nairobi was the setting for the annual Kenyan School’s Dyslexia Conference. Twelve leading independent day and boarding schools were represented. Many of the delegates had travelled many miles from up country to attend this annual conference.Other delegates came from schools within Nairobi. . .
- New Insight into Why Learning Disorders are Genetic - Scientists analyzing new images of the brain have discovered that structures used in language processing are strongly influenced by genetics. This begins to explain why learning disorders such as dyslexia and autism can run in families. The same study also revealed that the volume of gray matter is strongly linked with intelligence.
- Dyslexia Teatment Center Offers Children a Free Hand Up - Inspiring report about the the Tennessee Center for the Study and Treatment of Dyslexia, which helps get the proper services for dyslexic children in the Madison County school system.
- Mother Sacrifices all for Daughter's Literacy - Karen Hetmanski has a high school diploma, but her life has been a series of low-paying jobs and disappointments. At 37, she reads like a third-grader.
The Millers Island woman has launched a crusade - there really is no other word for it - to keep the same thing from happening to her daughter, Amanda Watts. Amanda, who will be 13 next month, can barely read.
"Education is very important to me, because I don't have an education," said the jobless Hetmanski, who has spent thousands of dollars on her cause and put her house up for sale. "That's why I am fighting so hard."
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State-of-the-art warplane cockpit systems that allow pilots to aim missiles with their eyes are being adapted by defence researchers and Oxford University scientists to help diagnose dyslexia by measuring whether children's eyes work properly when they read.
The diagnosis kit - designed to measure "eye wobble", one of the key components of dyslexia - uses two tiny video cameras fixed to a pair of spectacle frames. These contain reflective glass, like that used in one-way mirrors. When children put on the glasses and look towards a fixed point or a moving target, the cameras film their eye movements, which are measured with infrared light reflected by the glass.
A computer link then shows whether the child's eyes are fixing and tracking steadily, or whether they wobble. (The Sunday Times - Oct 28th 01)
It is estimated that dyscalculia - difficulty with numbers - afflicts between 3% and 6% of the population, based on the proportion of children who have special difficulty with maths despite good performance in other subjects.
Often it is associated with dyslexia - word difficulty - but experts say the practical effects are even worse: Inability to work out change in a shop, tell the time, or even find your way around.- Movement Therapy - The Primary Movement Programme was developed in 1999 in Queen’s University, Belfast, UK. It was the result of highly successful trials carried out by The Dept of Psychology. The results showed that children who were dyslexic, were able to increase their reading ages by nearly two years in the year they were on the programme.
Continue with More News and Research, including:
1. THE CAUSES OF DYSLEXIA
2. EXPERIENCES OF DYSLEXIA
3. DIAGNOSIS
4. TEACHING
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