Modifying the brain activation of poor readers during sentence comprehension with extended remedial instruction: A longitudinal study of neuroplasticity

Meyler, Ann; Keller, Timothy A.; Cherkassky, Vladimir L.; Gabrieli, John D. E.; Just, Marcel Adam

doi:10.1016/j.neuropsychologia.2008.03.012

Cited by 112 publications

(120 citation statements)

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“…Indeed, whereas typical reading development appears to involve a shift from right-hemisphere to left-hemisphere involvement (35), gains in reading in dyslexia appear to involve greater dependence on right-hemisphere pathways. Neuroimaging studies examining the neural correlates of effective interventions have reported both a growth of activation in posterior left-hemisphere regions that are typically hypoactive in dyslexia ("normalization"), and also a growth of activation in right-hemisphere regions, including right IFG ("compensation") (24,(36)(37)(38)(39).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Neural systems predicting long-term outcome in dyslexia

Hoeft

McCandliss

Black

et al. 2010

Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A.

414

391

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Individuals with developmental dyslexia vary in their ability to improve reading skills, but the brain basis for improvement remains largely unknown. We performed a prospective, longitudinal study over 2.5 y in children with dyslexia (n = 25) or without dyslexia (n = 20) to discover whether initial behavioral or brain measures, including functional MRI (fMRI) and diffusion tensor imaging (DTI), can predict future long-term reading gains in dyslexia. No behavioral measure, including widely used and standardized reading and language tests, reliably predicted future reading gains in dyslexia. Greater right prefrontal activation during a reading task that demanded phonological awareness and right superior longitudinal fasciculus (including arcuate fasciculus) white-matter organization significantly predicted future reading gains in dyslexia. Multivariate pattern analysis (MVPA) of these two brain measures, using linear support vector machine (SVM) and cross-validation, predicted significantly above chance (72% accuracy) which particular child would or would not improve reading skills (behavioral measures were at chance). MVPA of whole-brain activation pattern during phonological processing predicted which children with dyslexia would improve reading skills 2.5 y later with >90% accuracy. These findings identify right prefrontal brain mechanisms that may be critical for reading improvement in dyslexia and that may differ from typical reading development. Brain measures that predict future behavioral outcomes (neuroprognosis) may be more accurate, in some cases, than available behavioral measures.inferior frontal gyrus | prediction | compensation | fractional anisotropy | rhyming D evelopmental dyslexia, which occurs in 5-17% of children, is a persistent difficulty in learning to read that is not explained by sensory deficits, cognitive deficits, lack of motivation, or lack of adequate reading instruction (1). Approximately one-fifth of individuals with developmental dyslexia manage to compensate for their underlying learning difficulties and develop adequate reading skills by the time they reach adulthood (2), but the mechanisms by which this compensation occurs remain largely unknown. Improved reading observed in developmental dyslexia is rarely complete, but instead refers to a level of reading superior to clinical cutoff scores that closes the gap between poor reader and typical readers, and that allows children to read adequately for purposes of learning. Many factors likely influence whether dyslexic children make substantial progress in reading, including access to educational resources and interventions, and neuropsychological and behavioral characteristics (reviewed in refs. 3 and 4), such as whether children have multiple deficits (e.g., in both rapid naming and phonological processing; ref. 5). A number of studies have examined neuropsychological, behavioral, and demographic predictors of developing dyslexia (e.g., refs. 6-8) and short-term response to intervention (RTI) (3, 4), but there is little evidence...

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Neural systems predicting long-term outcome in dyslexia

Hoeft

McCandliss

Black

et al. 2010

Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A.

414

391

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

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“…Functional neuroimaging studies have revealed brain plasticity associated with effective intervention for dyslexia. In general, effective remediation is associated with increased activation, or normalization, in the left temporo-parietal and frontal regions that typically show reduced or absent activation in dyslexia for phonological processing of visually presented letters, words, or sentences (36)(37)(38)(39)(40). Immediately after intervention, increased right-hemisphere activations are also observed (36)(37)(38)(39).…”

Section: Typically Reading Childrenmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Thus, individuals with dyslexia receiving intervention may engage, in a contracted period, both right-and left-hemisphere mechanisms underlying reading development. These changes in brain function can be maintained for at least a year after remediation is completed and students have returned to their standard curriculum (37,40).…”

Section: Typically Reading Childrenmentioning

confidence: 99%

Dyslexia: A New Synergy Between Education and Cognitive Neuroscience

Gabrieli

2009

Science

427

319

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Dyslexia: A New Synergy Between Education and www.sciencemag.org (this information is current as of October 26, 2009 ):The following resources related to this article are available online at http://www.sciencemag.org/cgi/content/full/325/5938/280 version of this article at:including high-resolution figures, can be found in the online Updated information and services, http://www.sciencemag.org/cgi/content/full/325/5938/280#otherarticles Reading is essential in modern societies, but many children have dyslexia, a difficulty in learning to read. Dyslexia often arises from impaired phonological awareness, the auditory analysis of spoken language that relates the sounds of language to print. Behavioral remediation, especially at a young age, is effective for many, but not all, children. Neuroimaging in children with dyslexia has revealed reduced engagement of the left temporo-parietal cortex for phonological processing of print, altered white-matter connectivity, and functional plasticity associated with effective intervention. Behavioral and brain measures identify infants and young children at risk for dyslexia, and preventive intervention is often effective. A combination of evidence-based teaching practices and cognitive neuroscience measures could prevent dyslexia from occurring in the majority of children who would otherwise develop dyslexia.T he nexus of educational policies, evidencebased teaching practices, and cognitive neuroscience promises to use cutting-edge scientific methods and concepts to promote the growth and success of children. Reading is a focal point in this new synthesis because it is the most important portal to knowledge in our information age, from books to blackboards to the Internet. Learning to read is, however, perilous for the 5 to 17% of children who have developmental dyslexia, a persistent difficulty in learning to read that is not explained by sensory deficits, cognitive deficits, lack of motivation, or lack of adequate reading instruction (1).Here, I provide an overview of research about the cognitive and brain bases of dyslexia, its treatment and brain plasticity associated with successful treatment, and how neuroscience may interact with education to help children with dyslexia. Particularly promising is the possibility that early identification of risk for dyslexia, through combined behavioral and neuroscience measures, may allow for preventive treatment such that many children with dyslexia who would otherwise fail to read would, instead, succeed at reading. What Is Dyslexia and What Causes Dyslexia?Definition of dyslexia. Most children have reading difficulties for three broad reasons: (i) dyslexia, which is characterized by a difficulty in understanding and using alphabetic or logographic principles to acquire accurate and fluent reading skills, (ii) reduced vocabulary and strategies needed for text comprehension, and (iii) reduced motivation to read. The latter reasons for reading failure often involve socioeconomic factors, at home and at school, that are beyond the scope ...

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“…Instruction-based learning tasks such as algebra (Anderson et al, 2012 have also resulted in activation changes. One study demonstrated both activation changes and white matter changes as a result of both instruction and repeated training in word decoding in children with dyslexia (Meyler et al, 2008;Keller & Just, 2009). Unlike these previous studies, here we look not for changes in tissues or in regional activation, but in the neural representations of specific concepts using recent methods that can identify the nature of the information that is being coded by a given fMRI activation pattern.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%