Dyslexia News and Research

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Dyslexia is a learning disability that makes itself manifest primarily as a difficulty with the visual notation of speech or written language, particularly with reading the various man-made writing systems. It is separate and distinct from reading difficulties resulting from other causes, such as a non-neurological deficiency with vision or hearing, or from poor or inadequate reading instruction. This suggests that dyslexia results from differences in how the brain processes written and spoken language.

DOES makes children eye exams inexpensive, comprehensive and simple to administer

Eighty-five percent of children's learning is related to vision. Yet in the U.S., 80 percent of children have never had an eye exam or any vision screening before kindergarten, statistics say. When they do, the vision screenings they typically receive can detect only one or two conditions.

19 Jan 2012

Research reveals how bats parse duties at single neuron level

Imagine listening to music while carrying on a conversation with friends. This type of multi-tasking is fairly easy to do, right? That's because our brains efficiently and effectively separate the auditory signals - music to the right side; conversation to the left. But what researchers have not been able to do in humans or animals is to see a parsing of duties at the single neuron level - until now.

4 Jan 2012

Dyslexic individuals have difficulties in excluding external noise

Dyslexia affects up to 17.5% of the population, but its cause remains somewhat unknown. A report published in the Nov. 23 issue of the online journal PLoS ONE supports the hypothesis that the symptoms of dyslexia, including difficulties in reading, are at least partly due to difficulty excluding excess background information like noise.

24 Nov 2011

Gallaudet University, UC Davis to co-sponsor Visual Learning Summit

How deaf children learn to read will be one of the topics of a conference at UC Davis Nov. 18-19. The Visual Learning Summit is co-sponsored by the UC Davis Center for Mind and Brain, Gallaudet University's Science of Learning Center on Visual Language and Visual Learning, and the departments of psychology and linguistics at UC Davis.

16 Nov 2011

Rapid sideline visual test effectively detects concussions in collegiate athletes

A sideline visual test effectively detected concussions in collegiate athletes, according to a team of researchers from the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania.

2 Sep 2011

Online brain training reduces depression, improves cognitive functions

CogniFit brain fitness program can improve cognitive functions of everyday living in individuals with depression.

18 Aug 2011

Individuals with dyslexia do not experience familiar language advantage

When people recognize voices, part of what helps make voice recognition accurate is noticing how people pronounce words differently. But individuals with dyslexia don't experience this familiar language advantage, say researchers.

30 Jul 2011

Conference to discuss new discoveries in cognitive neuroscience research

New discoveries in the field of cognitive neuroscience hold great promise for improving current teaching methods. Yet there is a significant gap between such scientific discoveries and the application of this knowledge in the classroom.

28 Jul 2011

Babies have far less ability to recognize rapidly changing images than adults

Babies have far less ability to recognize rapidly changing images than adults, according to research from the UC Davis Center for Mind and Brain. The results show that while infants can perceive flicker or movement, they may not be able to identify the individual elements within a moving or changing scene as well as an adult.

15 Jul 2011

Early musical interventions may benefit children with dyslexia having difficulties in learning to read

Children with dyslexia often find it difficult to count the number of syllables in spoken words or to determine whether words rhyme. These subtle difficulties are seen across languages with different writing systems and they indicate that the dyslexic brain has trouble processing the way that sounds in spoken language are structured.

29 Jun 2011

Study: Dyslexia gene controls cilia in brain neurons

Scientists at Karolinska Institutet in Sweden have discovered that a gene linked to dyslexia has a surprising biological function: it controls cilia, the antenna-like projections that cells use to communicate.

20 Jun 2011

Difficulty to learn maths linked to neurocognitive disorder

Students who struggle to learn mathematics may have a neurocognitive disorder that inhibits the acquisition of basic numerical and arithmetic concepts, according to a new paper by University of Minnesota and British researchers. Called developmental dyscalculia, the disorder affects roughly the same number of people as dyslexia but has received much less attention (and research funding).

27 May 2011

Precision ophthalmic tint lenses reduce migraine, study shows

Precision tinted lenses have been used widely to reduce visual perceptual distortions in poor readers, and are increasingly used for migraine sufferers, but until now the science behind these effects has been unclear.

26 May 2011

AAN honors BIDMC neurologist with Epilepsy Award

Bernard Chang, MD, a member of the Department of Neurology at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center and Assistant Professor of Neurology at Harvard Medical School, received the Dreifuss-Penry Epilepsy Award at the 63rd Annual Meeting of the American Academy of Neurology, held recently in Honolulu, HI.

27 Apr 2011

Brain involuntary rotates reflected letters and words in the mirror

Human beings understand words reflected in a mirror without thinking about it, just like those written normally, at least for a few instants. Researchers from the Basque Centre on Cognition, Brain and Languages (Spain) have shown this in a study that could also help to increase our understanding of the phenomenon of dyslexia.

31 Mar 2011

States grapple with new ways to cut state Medicaid costs

Among the strategies being used are efforts to change rules, revise definitions, tighten anti-fraud efforts and cut services.

17 Feb 2011

Elsevier enables text-to-speech option for all ePub book titles

Elsevier, the world-leading publisher of scientific, technical and medical information products and solutions, announced today that it has enabled the text-to-speech option on all of its ePub book titles. The text-to-speech function enables an e-book to read aloud. This will facilitate access by readers who would otherwise face a range of access challenges through blindness, dyslexia, or motor difficulties.

10 Dec 2010

ADHD, developmental RD have common genetic influences: Study

Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder and developmental reading disability are complex childhood disorders that frequently occur together; if a child is experiencing trouble with reading, symptoms of ADHD are often also present.

9 Dec 2010

Nemours commends House and Senate for passage of child nutrition legislation

Nemours, a premier, integrated child health system, congratulates the United States House of Representatives for passing the Healthy, Hunger-Free Kids Act of 2010, legislation that reauthorizes critical child nutrition programs. We applaud Speaker Pelosi, Majority Leader Hoyer, and Chairman Miller for their leadership in working with the Senate to pass legislation that will protect and promote the health of children. House passage of the bill has cleared the way for the President to sign it into law.

3 Dec 2010

Neuroplasticity helps children with learning disabilities improve cognitive functioning capacities

Brain School, a new book from Eaton Arrowsmith School's (EAS) founder and director, Howard Eaton, tells the amazing story of how children with learning disabilities such as Dyslexia, Nonverbal Learning Disabilities and ADHD overcame educational obstacles by reorganizing their brains.

30 Nov 2010