Children with dyslexia take longer to process visual information, new research has revealed that sheds new light on which brain processes are affected by dyslexia beyond just reading skills.
The results of the study have been published in the scientific journal JNeurosci.
Dyslexia and visual processing: here’s what the new research says
The study is the first to combine new methods for understanding visual processing and brain activity in dyslexia. During the research a group of children aged six to 14 were involved to try to identify the average direction of movement of a mass of moving points, this while their brain activity was observed.
This experiment revealed that children with dyslexia took longer to capture visual evidence, and were less accurate, than their typically developing peers, and that the behavioral differences were reflected in differences in brain activity.
Although reading ability is known to be affected by dyslexia, Researchers have not yet been able to pinpoint precisely which brain processes are affected by the condition. A greater understanding of this could potentially lead to more effective support for children with dyslexia.
Although reading ability is known to be affected by dyslexia, researchers are still unclear which brain processes are affected by the condition. A greater understanding of this could potentially lead to more effective support for those affected.
Dr. Cathy Manning, chief researcher of the University of Reading Center for Autism said: “These findings show that the difficulties faced by children with dyslexia are not limited to reading and writing. Instead, as a group, children with dyslexia also show differences in the way they process visual information and make decisions at the regard”.
“Future research will be needed to see if these differences in visual processing and decision making can be trained to improve reading skills in affected children or provide clues to the causes of dyslexia “, continued the scholar.
Monitoring brain activity using theEEG in the study showed synchronized activity on the centro-parietal regions of the brain involved in decision-making steadily increasing in all children during the task until a decision was made. However, this happened more gradually in children with dyslexia.
The study supports a link between movement processing and dyslexia, although the causes are not yet known.
Whether dyslexia is, at its core, a visual processing disorder is hotly debated among researchers. With reading and writing a key challenge among children with dyslexia, a greater understanding of its effects on the brain could help improve existing interventions.
Dyslexia is a common neurodiversity that can be traced across all cultures, ages and societies. World statistics show that one in ten people have dyslexia.
Some individuals with dyslexia are willing to openly share their experiences, while others are extremely competent at masking their dyslexic traits or may not want to discuss them openly. Due to its worldwide commonality, pursuing knowledge and understanding of dyslexia is very important.
As a significant part of the global population may be dyslexic, dyslexia is a very important phenomenon not to be overlooked in modern society as it affects people’s daily lives, not only those affected, but can also affect people who are a part of the life of an individual with dyslexia. Basically this can include their families, partners, friends, teachers, and even employers.
According to MIUR, in Italy in 2017/2018, 177.212 individuals showed up dyslexia (trouble learning to read), 79,261 dysgraphia (trouble learning to write), 92,134 dysorthography (disturbance in using the language code), 86,645 dyscalculia (disturbance in mathematical calculation).
“Pupils with dyslexia represented the 2.1% of the total number of pupils attending Italian schools, pupils with dysgraphia the 0.9%, those with dysorthography 1.1%, those with dyscalculia 1%.
For all school levels, the most common disorder on average was that of dyslexia: considering primary and secondary I and II grade as a whole, 40.7% of pupils with SLD had this certification, 18.2% dysgraphia , 21.2% of spelling, 19.9% of dysgraphia.
In detail of the various school levels, in the Primary 41.4% of the DSA certifications reported a disorder of dyslexia, the 20.2% dysgraphia, the 24.7% of spelling and the 13.7% of dyscalculia “.
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