Using fMRI to Evaluate Instructional Programs for Children With Developmental Dyslexia

Reading is a uniquely human endeavor and failure to develop this skill can lead to serious educational and emotional consequences. Reading more slowly or less accurately, as is the case in developmental dyslexia, occurs in between 5% and 15% of individuals in the United States. Developmental dyslexia significantly interferes with academic achievement and with activities of daily living that require reading skills. Although dyslexia is considered a reading disorder, dyslexia's clinical signs are varied and include deficits in the sensory domain, abnormal phonological awareness, and problems in related linguistic skills. Phonological awareness training and visual perceptual training can improve reading ability in children with dyslexia. Recent functional imaging studies on sensory and language processing in dyslexia have demonstrated involvement of the posterior temporal and inferior parietal cortical systems of the brain. However, how these brain areas are changed as a result of dyslexia treatment has not been determined.

This study will investigate the neurophysiologic changes before and after treatment in 11- to 14-year-old children immersed in Lindamood-Bell training utilizing either phonological (LiPS) or visual (Seeing Stars) strategies. These training programs have successful behavioral outcomes, but neurophysiologic changes have not been evaluated. The study will determine whether behavioral changes in reading skills result in physiological differences in the brain identifiable with functional brain imaging and whether initial physiological observations are indicative of the degree of success of the intervention.

Participant will be randomized to receive either Lindamood-Bell training, a math intervention (active control), or no intervention (passive control). The intervention will last 6 weeks; children will have both pre- and post-intervention behavioral testing and fMRI scans.