Hello all,
 
In the January 10, 2007 newsletter from Medical News Today, a  article 
entitled New Dyslexia Theory Blames 'Noise' presents  some interesting information 
from research funded by the National Institute of Child Health and Human  
Development.  Below are some interesting sections from that  article:



The dyslexic brain struggles to read because even small distractions can  
throw it off, according to a new model of dyslexia emerging from a group of  
recent studies.

The studies contradict an  influential, 30-year-old theory that blamed 
dyslexia on a neural deficit in  processing the fast sounds of language. 

Instead, the  studies suggest that children with dyslexia have bad filters 
for irrelevant  data. As a result, they struggle to form solid mental categories 
for identifying  letters and word sounds.

Such children may benefit  from intensive training under "noisy" conditions 
to strengthen their mental  templates, said University  of Southern  California 
neuroscientist Zhong-Lin Lu....  


"In terms of treatment, the results suggest that programs that foster the  
development of sharper perceptual categories for letters and letter sounds might 
 be a good way to supplement existing dyslexia interventions," she  added....
 
Johannes Ziegler of the Universite de Provence in Marseille, France, was the 
lead author on a study of dyslexia  and auditory noise published this year in 
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.  

Ziegler said his results suggest that dyslexia stems from  shaky categories 
for phonemes (the basic sounds of language).  

"In silence, information is often redundant and dyslexics  get away with the 
perception deficit," Ziegler said in an e-mail. "In noise,  however, they can 
no longer compensate. 

"What is  important is that noisy environments are the rule and not the 
exception," he  added, citing a study from South Bank University in the U.K. that 
found average noise levels in primary classrooms to be as high as  near a busy 
intersection. 

"What Sperling and Lu's  data suggest is that the mechanism responsible for 
faulty phonological  development is quite general and has to do with attention 
in a broad  sense. 

"This is a great paper of very high  significance - As people like Steve 
Grossberg [of Boston University] have argued for many years, attention - is 
crucial for stable learning  of categories." 

Ziegler called for preventive  training for children with weak speech 
perception in noise in kindergarten or  early primary grades, saying they are at 
greater risk for developing  dyslexia.... 





The above includes only a few short snapshots from  the article.  Has anyone 
read the entire article?  I would be  interested in hearing your thoughts 
about this important research and how it  could impact the field.
 
You can access the article at:
_http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/medicalnews.php?newsid=59027&nfid=nl_ 
(http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/medicalnews.php?newsid=59027&nfid=nl)  
 
Thanks,
 
Rochelle
 
 
Rochelle Kenyon
Moderator, LINCS Learning Disabilities Discussion  List
Center for Literacy Studies at the University of Tennessee
_RKenyon721 at aol.com_ (mailto:RKenyon721 at aol.com)  

To  post a message: 
_Learningdisabilities at nifl.gov_ (mailto:Learningdisabilities at nifl.gov)   

To subscribe: 
_http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/LearningDisabilities_ 
(http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/LearningDisabilities)   

To read archived messages:
_http://www.nifl.gov/linc/discussions/list_archives.html_ 
(http://www.nifl.gov/linc/discussions/list_archives.html) 
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: http://www.nifl.gov/pipermail/learningdisabilities/attachments/20070110/62a05153/attachment.html