Levels of key brain chemicals predict children's reading ability

Reading-impaired young children have higher levels of the metabolites glutamate and choline in their brains, and these higher levels continue to be indicative of difficulties in developing typical reading and language skills, a Yale study has found. 

The study appears in the Journal of Neuroscience.

Although anatomical and functional brain networks involved in reading disabilities have been well characterised, the underlying chemical bases of these differences in reading development have been poorly understood.

This study is believed to be the first to examine neurochemistry in a longitudinal study of children during the critical period when they are considered "emergent readers," the age at which neurocircuits that support skilled reading and speaking are still developing.

The Yale team measured levels of glutamate, choline, and other metabolites in 75 children, aged 6 to 10, whose reading abilities ranged from what is considered impaired to superior.

The researchers conducted behavioral testing to characterize the children's reading, language, and general cognitive skills, and used MR spectroscopy to assess metabolite levels.

They found that children with higher glutamate and choline levels in their brains tended to have lower composite scores for reading and language.

In follow-up testing two years later, the same correlation still existed for initial glutamate levels.

Kenneth Pugh

"Reading disabilities affect significant numbers of children," said first author Kenneth Pugh, associate professor of linguistics and president and director of research in the Haskins Laboratories at Yale.

"Our findings suggest new pathways for research into the connection between genes, brain development, and behavioural outcomes in children who struggle with reading."

The researchers also note that higher glutamate and choline levels have been implicated in hyperexcitability in children, another possible factor in cognitive impairment.

Robert Fulbright

"Further research may show whether there is a chemical basis that contributes to learning deficits among the reading-disabled children," said senior author Robert Fulbright, also of the Haskins Laboratories, and associate professor of diagnostic radiology at Yale School of Medicine.

More Information: 'Glutamate and choline levels predict individual differences in reading ability in emergent readers' Journal of Neuroscience Mar 2014 - K.Pugh, R.Fullbright, et al.

Brain Structure of Infants predicts Language Skills at one year

Using a brain-imaging technique that examines the entire infant brain, researchers have found that the anatomy of certain brain areas – the hippocampus and cerebellum – can predict children's language abilities at 1 year of age. 

The University of Washington study is the first to associate these brain structures with future language skills. 

The results are published in the January issue of the journal Brain and Language.

"The brain of the baby holds an infinite number of secrets just waiting to be uncovered, and these discoveries will show us why infants learn languages like sponges, far surpassing our skills as adults," said co-author Patricia Kuhl, co-director of the UW's Institute for Learning & Brain Sciences.

Children's language skills soar after they reach their first birthdays, but little is known about how infants' early brain development seeds that path.

Identifying which brain areas are related to early language learning could provide a first glimpse of development going awry, allowing for treatments to begin earlier.

"Infancy may be the most important phase of postnatal brain development in humans," said Dilara Deniz Can, lead author and a UW postdoctoral researcher.

"Our results showing brain structures linked to later language ability in typically developing infants is a first step toward examining links to brain and behavior in young children with linguistic, psychological and social delays."

In the study, the researchers used magnetic resonance imaging to measure the brain structure of a mix of 19 boys and girls at 7 months of age.

The researchers used a measurement called voxel-based morphometry to determine the concentration of gray matter, consisting of nerve cells, and of white matter, which make up the network of connections throughout the brain.

The study is the first to relate the outcomes of this whole-brain imaging technique to predict future ability in infants.

The whole-brain approach freed the researchers from having to select a few brain regions for study ahead of time, ones scientists might have expected to be involved based on adult data.

Read the full article at: Medical Express

Understanding the Co-morbidity Between Dyslexia and Attention-Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder

Dyslexia and attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) are 2 of the most prevalent complex neurodevelopmental disorders of childhood, each affecting approximately 5% of the population in the United States.

These disorders are also each co-morbid with speech sound disorder and language impairment.

Understanding the nature of the comorbidity among these disorders could lead to advances in developmental theory, a deeper understanding of the genetic and brain mechanisms that cause disability, a more refined diagnostic classification scheme, and new treatments and interventions for children with these disorders.

As part of this special issue of Topics in Language Disorders, this review focuses on the comorbidity between dyslexia and ADHD.

It provides a review of the known etiological mechanisms that underlie each disorder. It describes the reconceptualization of these disorders using a multiple deficit model and provides a synopsis of recent studies that illustrate a cohesive approach to investigating the causes of comorbidity.

Future directions are discussed in the context of expanding these approaches to the co-morbidity among all 4 disorders.  

Read the full paper here

The Centre for Reading Research CRR: first papers on dyslexia in higher education released

The Center for Reading Research, Belgium, is a research group connected to the Department of Experimental Psychology of Ghent University , sponsored by an Odysseus Grant from the Government of Flanders.

It is centered on three research topics:

1. Word recognition
2. Language dominance and reading
3. Dyslexia in higher education

Dyslexia in Higher Education
Some 1-3% of the population have specific reading problems unrelated to overall intelligence or other limitations (pure dyslexia).

This means that each year tens of students with dyslexia enter higher education. To know how to best help them, we have decided to direct some of our resources and expertise to this problem.

More specifically, we try to get a clear and objective picture of the strengths and weaknesses of dyslexic students in higher education and the measures they find helpful.

We are currently running an in-depth study of some 100 students with dyslexia and 100 controls on an extensive battery of tests. This will allow us to address questions such as:

• Which tests are particularly informative to assess dyslexia? Several tests have been developed in recent years, but few of them have been validated, so that it is not always clear whether they give a correct assessment.
• Are there different profiles of dyslexia? It seems unlikely that all reading problems are due to a single cause. It will be good to get a clear picture of the different profiles that are present in our sample.
• Are some weaknesses particularly hard to overcome and, if so, is there any type of support?
• Are some strengths particularly helpful and, if so, can these be taught?
• Can we learn more about the processes that form the basis of reading difficulties? If so, does this allow us to develop better training?

Here you find the first results of our study.

Dyslexia in Higher Education Reports
At long last the first papers of our dyslexia project have been accepted for publication. In this project we administered a battery of tests to a sample of 100 first-year students with dyslexia and 100 controls, to have a full profile of their strengths and weaknesses.

The basic findings are:

• The students with dyslexia show a pattern of results that completely fits the traditional definition of dyslexia: equivalent fluid intelligence combined with severe deficits in word reading, spelling, and phonological processing (there are no indications that they use the assessment to compensate for a lack of other skills).
• The students with dyslexia are also slightly at a disadvantage to retrieve verbal information from long term memory; this includes simple arithmetical facts (addition, multiplication, division).
• Because the problems are so specific, assessment only requires three tests (word reading, word spelling, phonological awareness). This allows us to correctly predict the status of 91% of future participants.
• The handwriting of students with dyslexia is not judged as more sloppy than that of controls. Their texts tend to be slightly less structured, though, and are therefore judged as less agreeable to read. This is something we think remedial teaching can help with.

A full description of our findings can be found in:
Callens, M., Tops, W., & Brysbaert, M. (in press). Cognitive profile of students who enter higher education with an indication of dyslexia. PLoS One. pdf

Tops, W., Callens, M., Lammertyn, J., Van Hees, V., & Brysbaert, M. (in press). Identifying students with dyslexia in higher education. Annals of Dyslexia. pdf

Tops, W., Callens, M., Van Cauwenberghe, E., Adriaens, J, & Brysbaert, M. (in press). Beyond spelling: The writing skills of students with dyslexia in higher education. Reading and Writing: An Interdisciplinary Journal. pdf

Dyslexia: Is it Big in Japan?

Many psychologists and cognitive scientists are convinced that Dyslexia is a complex cognitive disorder that only affects people trying to learn and read particularly difficult languages, ones which are full of exceptions to their own grammatical rules and which are more conceptual and not graphical in nature.

With this in mind, Dyslexia is thought to be very rare or non-existent in oriental languages because of the graphical nature of their language and writings.

Below is an extract from The Asahi Shimbun article that not only considers Dyslexia an issue in Japan but has first hand knowledge of the difficulties incurred by students.

Satoru Inoue

"Satoru Inoue and other people in Japan with dyslexia, a learning disorder that makes reading and writing difficult, have begun speaking out about their experiences by writing books and appearing in documentary films.

"I'd like teachers to know that children have the right to learn,” Satoru said, explaining why he wrote the book. “I want to do what I can so that there are fewer people like me."

Awareness of the disorder has been slow to develop in Japan, while support has been lagging that of Western countries.

Since the support is limited, many only become aware that they have dyslexia after reaching adulthood."

A Second extract from the same article:

"Like Satoru, Hiroko Sunanaga reached adulthood not knowing that she had dyslexia.

Her daily life is now featured in "DX (Dyslexia) na Hibi: Bin-chan no Baai" (DX days: The case of Bin-chan), an 81-minute documentary.

Sunanaga, whose nickname is Bin-chan, is now in her 30s.

A professor at an art university in London, where Sunanaga was studying in her early 20s, was the first person to suggest she had dyslexia."
 
Read the full article here

Learning About Dyslexia - YouTube

Many language-based disabilities go undetected. Doing their own research, sharing family stories, and extensive testing allowed the Giardinas to understand Michael's disabilities and learn how to help him learn and grow.

Chartered Occupational Psychologist Provides Skills Rocket

Skills Rocket, a Community Interest Company, is a free e-learning website, developed by a Chartered Occupational Psychologist.

It contains free resources made up of:  Tutorials, Support & Help Tips for an Adult with Dyslexia, Dyspraxia, Dyscalculia, Dysgraphia, AD(H)D or Neuro Differences.

Find easy to understand tutorial videos and articles from the experts that help you improve:

• Reading, Writing, Typing, Spelling, Memory, Note Taking,
  Speaking, Time Management, Listening, Concentration, Emails, Working Environment & Confidence.

How to access these great tools? Simply register for free and watch your Skills Rocket!

Their Vision
To use the Psychological knowledge and skills gained over many years of working with Adults who have Dyslexia, and other Neuro-Differences, and to share this learning with everyone, regardless of income level.

Mission Statement
At Skills Rocket, they believe that Dyslexia and other Neuro-Differences should not be a barrier to success.

Their mission is to equip Adults with the tools they need to get the best out of themselves, and empower them to make their skills rocket!!

A Profile of Paula Tallal Co-Director, Center for Molecular and Behavioural Neuroscience

A Profile of Paula Tallal, Co-Director, Center for Molecular and Behavioural Neuroscience & Professor II. Her Faculty is the Center for Molecular and Behavioral Neuroscience

Correcting Language Problems Through Neuroplasticity

Similar to a traveler who unknowingly sets out on the wrong route and needs to be redirected, the brain's plasticity can be utilized to guide the development of neural networks to correct language learning problems.

That key finding and insights into the brain's auditory processing system by Paula Tallal, Rutgers Board of Governors Professor of Neuroscience, has helped to bring positive change to hundreds of thousands of children worldwide who struggle with language.

With her co-researchers, Tallal helped to devise a revolutionary technique and software program - Fast ForWord - to assist children with establishing and strengthening the neural networks for language development.

For more than 30 years, Tallal, co-director of the Rutgers Center for Molecular and Behavioral Neuroscience, has been studying the connections between auditory processing, attention, memory and language learning.

What her research has shown is that timing is critically important for learning language and speech. The central problem for many children who struggle with language, including those with dyslexia, is that their brains have difficulty perceiving rapidly successive acoustic changes, such as the difference between "da" and "ba."

Tallal and her co-researchers hypothesized that the brain's neuroplasticity could be used to rewire neural networks to increase that processing speed or to "fire and wire" as she describes it. 

Neuroplasticity refers to the fact that the brain, rather than being molded and set, is able to reorganize itself in response to new situations or changes in the environment.

In 1996, she and co-researcher Michael Merzenich, professor emeritus, University of California, San Francisco, founded Scientific Leaning Corporation to bring their research out of the lab to help children who struggle with language.

The result was Fast ForWord, a computer-based program that corrects auditory processing problems by pushing the brain to handle auditory information at faster and faster speeds. The software, with an 80 percent success rate, has been used by children in more than 40 countries.

In her research, Tallal found that many children who struggle with language have a listening "window" that is slower than 1/4 second long.

Yet to differentiate fast-changing sounds, the brain needs to be able to perceive differences at the millisecond range to learn the smaller sounds inside of words, the phonemes.

If auditory information could be slowed down, Tallal theorized, it should become easier for children with processing delays to learn those differences.

That instead of mistaking "cat" for "tat," for example, they could learn to hear the discrete changes and if that information then could be presented at increasingly faster rates, their brains could be remodeled to make learning language easier and permanent.

That is just what Fast ForWord and the team's related learning tools accomplish. As shown by fMRI studies, the brains of children who have used the program develop the same firing patterns as children who do not struggle with language.

Her current research is focused on the neural and genetic bases of language development, and early detection methods for language learning difficulties.

In research that followed a set of babies across several years, she and her team found that identifying how fast the brain can organize simple incoming auditory information at very young ages is the best predictor of successful language development.

Such findings could open the way for earlier correction methods to spare children the struggles so many experience because of processing delays.

Dyslexia: Report on Perceived Link to Deaf Children with Cochlear Implants

Eight year-old Britan and her 10-year-old brother, Carson, have been going to the same summer camp for the past two years. For an entire day, they laugh, play games, eat pizza - and then chat with scientists who literally hang on every word they say.

That’s because Britan, who can hear normally, and Carson, who hears through cochlear implants – artificial ears for deaf people - are part of a study in the speech development laboratory at The Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center looking at the relationship between hearing and language skills.

Even though cochlear implants have significantly improved the communication abilities of children with hearing loss, many of these children still lag behind their peers in language and literacy development.

For nearly ten years, researchers at Ohio State have been following more than 100 children with normal hearing or hearing loss, some since birth, in order to help find answers that may lead to better implant designs and educational interventions.

Now, researchers say that a surprising picture is beginning to emerge from their studies that could change the way learning problems like dyslexia are detected and treated.

In "Measuring what matters: Effectively predicting language and literacy in children with cochlear implants," published in International Journal of Pediatric Otorhinolaryngology, the goal of Susan Nittrouer, director of Ohio State’s Speech Development Lab, was to evaluate how well various language measures typically used with very young children after they receive cochlear implants predict language and literacy skills as they enter school.

“We’re beginning to see similarities between the language problems of some children with cochlear implants and the language problems of some children with normal hearing who encounter barriers to language learning,” explained Susan Nittrouer.

“That’s enormously useful information because we know that the actual signal that children with cochlear implants get isn’t nearly as clear as the signal that normal hearing listeners get.

So if language and literacy problems in children with normal hearing are similar to those of deaf children with cochlear implants, maybe the difficulty rests with how they are processing the signal perceptually, even though they have normal sensitivity to sound. That would make sense since language was built on our perceptual capacities.”

With language development, timing is crucial. Most children with dyslexia, a language processing disorder that impacts somewhere between 5 to 20 percent of U.S. children, aren’t usually diagnosed until the third grade. By then, an important window of intervention opportunity has passed.

Ohio State has conducted multiple studies to pinpoint this critical window. Nittrouer’s team has been able to identify some accurate predictors of future language and literacy problems in children with hearing loss by the age of three.

“For example, a deficit in the early comprehension of spoken language is a strong predictor of later reading and writing problems,” said Nittrouer.

“Perhaps we’ll find that the measures of early language skill that we use with toddlers and preschoolers with hearing loss may actually identify children whose learning problems simply haven’t emerged yet. It would be ideal if we could step in earlier, and change the downstream impact.”

In an upcoming publication, Perspectives on Language Learning and Education, by the American Speech, Learning and Hearing Association, an article by Nittrouer suggests that some current theories of language development might need to be reconsidered, noting that the similarity of literacy problems in children with hearing loss and those with language deficits mandates taking a closer look at the role of perception in language development and new intervention approaches.

Read the full article here: HealthNewsDigest.com

In a second article published in Ear and Hearing, "Emergent Literacy in Kindergartners with Cochlear Implants" examined the early or emergent literacy of young cochlear implant recipients.

Dyslexia and Reading: Pointing to Words Helps Children Read

Parents who point out words and letters to their children as they read aloud boost the youngsters' reading skills when they are older, according to a new study.

Showing capital letters and how you read from left to right and top to bottom of the page also improves the childrens' spelling and language comprehension skills.

"By showing them what a letter is and what a letter means, and what a word is and what a word means, we're helping them to crack the code of language and understand how to read," said Shayne Piasta, an assistant professor of Teaching and Learning at Ohio State University, who led the study.

Under-fives who were taught to read this way developed more advanced reading skills one and even two years down the line compared to kids who didn't.

Researchers claim this is the first time a study has shown a link between referencing during reading and literary achievement in later life.

An earlier study showed untrained teachers referenced 8.5 times per reading session compared to 36 times for those who were trained.

Parents did it even less typically making only one reference in a 10-minute reading session.

However Dr Piasta, of Ohio State University, said only a 'slight tweak' was needed in what they were already doing to make a difference to their child's reading skills.

More than 300 children took part in her 30-week reading programme as part of Project STAR (Sit Together And Read), a randomised clinical trial to test the short and long-term impacts associated with reading regularly to preschool children in the classroom.

All came from low-income homes, had below-average language skills and were at substantial risk for reading difficulties later on.

They were separated into three groups; high-dose STAR which had four reading sessions per week, low-dose STAR which had two sessions and a third comparison group which also had four sessions a week.

Teachers were trained to make specific print references while reading the same 30 books to their students in the first two groups while teachers in the comparison group were told to read as they normally would and not make specific references.

The results showed that up to two years later children in the high-dose STAR classrooms had higher word reading, spelling and comprehension skills than the children in the comparison group.

The benefits were not as clear for those in the low-dose STAR classrooms but they still seemed to have slightly better skills than those in the comparison group.

Dr Piasta said it was particularly notable that students in the high-dose STAR classrooms scored higher on tests of reading comprehension.

"If you're getting kids to pay attention to letters and words, it makes sense that they will do better at word recognition and spelling.

"But the fact that they also did better at understanding the passages they read is really exciting.

"That suggests this intervention may help them become better readers," she said.

The study was published in the journal Child Development.

Stephen Fry talks about Language

Autism: Mirror Neurons and Self-understanding

Recent findings are rapidly expanding researchers' understanding of a new class of brain cells, mirror neurons, which are active both when people perform an action and when they watch it being performed.

Some scientists speculate that a mirror system in people's 'perception' forms the basis for social behaviour, for our ability to imitate, acquire language, and show empathy and understanding.

It also may have played a role in the evolution of speech. Mirror neurons were so named because they fire, both when an animal acts and when it simply watches the same action. They were thought to "mirror" movement, as though the observer itself were acting.

Advances in the past few years have newly defined different types of mirror neurons in monkeys and shown how finely tuned these subsets of mirror neurons can be.

New studies also have further characterized both normal and abnormal, mirror activity in the brains of children with Autism, a social communication disorder, suggesting new approaches to treatment.

"The tremendous excitement that has been generated in the field by the study of mirror neurons stems from the implications of the findings, which have led to numerous new hypotheses about behavior, human evolution, and neuro-developmental disorders," says Mahlon DeLong, MD, of Emory University School of Medicine.

Mirror neurons, a class of nerve cells in areas of the brain relaying signals for planning movement and carrying it out, were discovered 11 years ago, an offshoot of studies examining hand and mouth movements in monkeys.

Mirror neuron research in the intervening years has expanded into a diverse array of fields and the implications have been enormous, encompassing; evolutionary development, theories of self and mind, and treatments for schizophrenia and stroke.

Findings include new research based on work in monkeys, showing that subsets of mirror neurons distinguish between observed actions carried out within hand's reach and those beyond the animal's personal space.

Read more of this article here: Mirror, Mirror In The Brain: Mirror Neurons, Self-understanding And Autism Research

Autism: Communication and Language Development - Talkbox

Talkbox is a conceptual communication system targeted at autistic children with severe speech impairment.

Unlike popular communication systems that are predominantly text/voice based. talk box aims at creating a evolving and personalised visual language for children with autism.

At the core of Talkbox, lies an intelligent speech processing engine working in tandem with an object detection and identifying system.

Talkbox has a single arcade style button that can be used by the child or his/her parents, to take pictures of objects and people in the setting that the child inhabits.

These images can then be printed out on specifically formatted paper by the talk box and segregated by the parents according to the time/place.

The images on the left panel consists of people the child might need to contact and these can also vary based on time/place.

To create a message, the child taps on the button to release the lid and place the characters in the creation zone.

As soon as the child keeps the first message on the surface the camera begins recording.

The child taps on the image of the person he/she wants to message and tap the button to send the message.

The recipient can respond to the message using touch based smart phones by accessing the child's visual vocabulary online and using the same visuals the child knows.

For one to one communication the child can just use the visuals from his Talkbox and can physically construct the stories for communicating with others.

Elements of the child's vocabulary and messages can also be posted by the parents in a closed online community to create a richer vocabulary and examples for parents new to the system.

Talkbox is a personalisable communication system that enables a child with autism to communicate with his/her loved ones using a language he/she knows and lives in.

It takes advantage of the repetitive behavior that autistic children have to create an uncluttered time/place based vocabulary and connection list.

A Box of Many Ideas: Parents' Support Website for Dyslexia, Dyspraxia and DCD

The one stop shop for 1000s of ideas, guidance and information for parents of children who suffer from Dyslexia, Dyspraxia and /or DCD. 

The website boast that it provides guidance on everything from early years to employment. Click on the pictures to visit the website or follow the links below.

Practical skills and information for parents concerning Education, schools and employment

Practical skills that parents and carers can use at home or outside school time. 

Move 627 is a website that examines the transitional stages that children go through in their lives, offering information and support.

To learn more about supporting parents and children with Dyslexia, Dyspraxia, DCD, ADHD, etc., be sure to visit the website of Move627 and their sister site: www.dyscovery.co.uk

The websites are supported by Prof. Amanda Kirby: A registered Medical Practitioner who specialises in Community Paediatrics and Psychiatry. Prof Kirby has particular interest in Dyslexia, Dyspraxia and DCD and is currently the patron of the Dyspraxia Association in New Zealand and medical advisor to the Dyspraxia Foundation in the UK and Ireland.

She is also a medical advisor to a developmental disorders clinic in Singapore, the UK Neurofibromatosis Association and is on the Royal College of General Practitioners Learning Disability Working Party.

Folic acid in early pregnancy associated with reduced risk of severe language delay in children

Use of folic acid supplements by women in Norway in the period 4 weeks before to 8 weeks after conception was associated with a reduced risk of the child having severe language delay at age 3 years, according to a study in the October 12 issue of JAMA.

"Randomised controlled trials and other studies have demonstrated that peri-conceptional [the period from before conception to early pregnancy] folic acid supplements reduce the risk of neural tube defects.

To our knowledge, none of the trials have followed up their sample to investigate whether these supplements have effects on neurodevelopment that are only manifest after birth," the authors write.

Christine Roth, M.Sc., Clin.Psy.D., of the Norwegian Institute of Public Health, Oslo, and colleagues conducted a study to investigate whether maternal use of folic acid supplements was associated with a reduced risk of severe language delay among offspring at age 3 years.

"Unlike the United States, Norway does not fortify foods with folic acid, increasing the contrast in relative folate status between women who do and do not take folic acid supplements," the researchers write.

Pregnant women were recruited for the study beginning in 1999, and data were included on children born before 2008 whose mothers returned the 3-year follow-up questionnaire by June 16, 2010.

Maternal use of folic acid supplements within the interval from 4 weeks before to 8 weeks after conception was the exposure.

The primary outcome measured for the study was children's language competency at age 3 years as gauged by maternal report on a 6-point ordinal language grammar scale.

Children with minimal expressive language (only 1-word or unintelligible utterances) were rated as having severe language delay.

The main analysis for the study included 38,954 children (19,956 boys and 18,998 girls). Of these children, 204 (0.5 percent) were rated as having severe language delay (159 [0.8 percent] boys and 45 [0.2 percent) girls).

Children whose mothers took no dietary supplements in the specified exposure interval were the reference group (n = 9,052 [24.0 percent], with severe language delay in 81 children [0.9 percent]).

Data for 3 patterns of exposure to maternal dietary supplements were: other supplements, but no folic acid (n = 2,480 [6.6 percent], with severe language delay in 22 children [0.9 percent]); folic acid only (n = 7,127 [18.9 percent], with severe language delay in 28 children [0.4 percent]); and folic acid in combination with other supplements (n = 19,005 [50.5 percent], with severe language delay in 73 children [0.4 percent]).

The researchers write that maternal use of supplements containing folic acid within the period from 4 weeks before to 8 weeks after conception was associated with a substantially reduced risk of severe language delay in children at age 3 years.

"We found no association, however, between maternal use of folic acid supplements and significant delay in gross motor skills at age 3 years.

The specificity provides some reassurance that there is not confounding by an unmeasured factor. Such a factor might be expected to relate to both language and motor delay."

The authors add that to their knowledge, no previous prospective observational study has examined the relation of prenatal folic acid supplements to severe language delay in children.

"If in future research this relationship were shown to be causal, it would have important implications for understanding the biological processes underlying disrupted neurodevelopment, for the prevention of neurodevelopmental disorders, and for policies of folic acid supplementation for women of reproductive age.

Dyslexia and SLI: Long-term reading and spelling outcome in Italian

Specific language impairment (SLI) diagnosed in the pre-school years is frequently associated with reading and writing difficulties at school age.

The nature of this relationship is unclear, despite the availability of a large number of studies, mostly on English speaking children. Phonological processing deficits have been considered the prominent cause of both difficulties.

However recent findings in both children with SLI and in children with reading difficulties are not easily accommodated within a single dimensional model explaining the relationship between oral and written language deficits.

This study focuses on the long-term reading and spelling outcome in relation to preschool oral language skills in a group of Italian adolescents with a documented history of SLI.

Sixteen Italian adolescents diagnosed as SLI at our Hospital in the pre-school years and 32 normal controls were submitted to an extensive assessment of oral and written language skills. At a group level SLI adolescents had weak oral and written language skills in almost all tests.

Results show that reading difficulties have some features in common with those of Italian developmental dyslexics but also have distinct characteristics, since reading accuracy and written comprehension, usually relatively spared in Italian developmental dyslexics, were impaired in adolescents with SLI.

Longitudinal analyses showed that expressive morpho-syntactic and lexical abilities at pre-school age were the oral language skills that best predicted reading and spelling outcomes in adolescents with SLI.

However, also children with severe phonological impairment in the absence of other oral language deficits showed later literacy difficulties, although less severe and mainly limited to reading accuracy.

The study supports the notion that there is a complex relationship between oral and written language difficulties which may change at different developmental time points, not captured by a single deficit model, but best conceptualised considering multiple interactions between language skills and literacy abilities.

Long-term reading and spelling outcome in Italian ... [Cortex. 2011] - PubMed result

Profound reorganisation in brains of adults who stutter

Hearing Beethoven while reciting Shakespeare can suppress even a King's stutter, as recently illustrated in the movie "The King's Speech."

This dramatic but short-lived effect of hiding the sound of one's own speech indicates that the integration of hearing and motor functions plays some role in the fluency (or dysfluency) of speech.

New research has shown that in adults who have stuttered since childhood, the processes of auditory-motor integration are indeed located in a different part of the brain to those in adults who do not stutter.

The findings are reported in the September 2011 issue of Elsevier's Cortex.

Dr. Nicole Neef and Dr. Martin Sommer from the University of Goettingen, together with Dr. Bettina Pollok from the University of Duesseldorf, studied the performance of a group of adults who stutter, as well as a control group of adults who do not stutter, in a finger tapping exercise.

They used Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation (TMS) to interfere temporarily with brain activity in the dorsolateral premotor cortex while the participants tapped their fingers in time with the clicks of a metronome.

In control subjects, disturbing the left premotor cortex impaired the finger tapping, but disturbing the right premotor cortex had no effect. In stuttering adults, the pattern was reversed: the accuracy of finger tapping was affected by disturbing the right hemisphere, and unaffected when disturbing the left.

Previous research has already linked stuttering with a right-shifted cerebral blood flow in the motor and premotor areas during speech. In this new study, a shift of auditory-motor integration to the right side of the brain occurred even in a task not directly involving speech.

Thus, in the brains of adults who stutter there appears to be a profound reorganisation possibly compensating for subtle white matter disturbances in other parts of the brain -- the left inferior frontal regions. These findings shed light on the extent of the reorganisation of brain functions in persistent developmental stuttering.

Profound reorganization in brains of adults who stutter: Auditory-motor integration located in different part of brain

School Related Linguistic Abilities in Siblings of Children with Autism

A recent study proposes that Siblings of probands with autism spectrum disorders are at higher risk for developing the broad autism phenotype (BAP).

They compared the linguistic abilities (i.e., pragmatic language, school achievements, and underling reading processes) of 35 school-age siblings of children with autism (SIBS-A) to those of 42 siblings of children with typical development.

Results indicated lower pragmatic abilities in a subgroup of SIBS-A identified with BAP related difficulties (SIBS-A-BAP) whereas school achievements and reading processes were intact.

Furthermore, among SIBS-A-BAP, significant negative correlations emerged between the severity scores on the Autism Diagnostic Observation Schedule and full and verbal IQ scores.

These results are discussed in the context of the developmental trajectories of SIBS-A and in relation to the BAP.

Read the full paper and it's findings here: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov

Unlocking Dyslexia in Japanese language class

After her 12-year-old son spent two years at a specialized school for children with learning disabilities, Lisa Lunday decided he was ready for a more challenging, mainstream environment.

The school she chose, however, required all students to study Japanese as part of its academically rigorous curriculum. Ms. Lunday was unsure how her son, who is dyslexic, would cope.

The result surprised her. The boy, now 13, excelled in his Japanese studies. His lettering of Japanese characters was sharp and distinct.

That was in stark contrast to his writing in English, which appeared to be the work of a kindergartner. Sometimes his English letters were so poorly composed that they were hard to read, a common problem among dyslexics.

"I looked at his Japanese binder and was amazed at how perfectly formed everything was," says Ms. Lunday, of San Mateo, Calif. "Just comparing two pieces of paper tells the story."

Experiences like that of the Lundays are providing scientists and educators with clues about how people with dyslexia learn and how best to teach them.

Researchers have long observed that some dyslexics have an easier time with languages like Japanese and Chinese, in which characters represent complete words or ideas, than they do with languages like English, which use separate letters and sounds to form words.

Now, recent brain-imaging studies are identifying possible reasons for the differences, and education experts say such research could point the way to improved teaching techniques.

"There are very real differences in the brain's reading circuit for an alphabet as opposed to a language like Chinese," says Maryanne Wolf, a professor of child development and director of the Center for Reading and Language Research at Tufts University in Medford, Mass. Dyslexics "think visually. They analyze patterns," she says.

Character-based languages are mastered through memorization, a skill that dyslexics tend to rely on more than do typical language learners, says Sally Shaywitz, co-director of the Yale Center for Dyslexia and Creativity in New Haven, Conn. And language characters are more like pictures than letters, which can be easier for many dyslexics to reproduce, she says.

Read More of this article here: Unlocking Dyslexia in Japanese - WSJ.com

Technique for Letting Brain Talk to Computers Now Tunes into Speech

The act of mind reading is something usually reserved for science-fiction movies but researchers in America have used a technique, usually associated with identifying epilepsy, for the first time to show that a computer can listen to our thoughts.


In a new study, scientists from Washington University demonstrated that humans can control a cursor on a computer screen using words spoken out loud and in their head, holding huge applications for patients who may have lost their speech through brain injury or disabled patients with limited movement.

By directly connecting the patient's brain to a computer, the researchers showed that the computer could be controlled with up to 90% accuracy even when no prior training was given.

Patients with a temporary surgical implant have used regions of the brain that control speech to "talk" to a computer for the first time, manipulating a cursor on a computer screen simply by saying or thinking of a particular sound.

"There are many directions we could take this, including development of technology to restore communication for patients who have lost speech due to brain injury or damage to their vocal cords or airway," says author Eric C. Leuthardt, MD, of Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis.

Scientists have typically programmed the temporary implants, known as brain-computer interfaces, to detect activity in the brain's motor networks, which control muscle movements.

"That makes sense when you're trying to use these devices to restore lost mobility -- the user can potentially engage the implant to move a robotic arm through the same brain areas he or she once used to move an arm disabled by injury," says Leuthardt, assistant professor of neurosurgery, of biomedical engineering and of neurobiology, "But that has the potential to be inefficient for restoration of a loss of communication."

Patients might be able to learn to think about moving their arms in a particular way to say hello via a computer speaker, Leuthardt explains. But it would be much easier if they could say hello by using the same brain areas they once engaged to use their own voices.

Read more of the article here

The research appears April 7 in The Journal of Neural Engineering. This Journal contains many free articles that help scientists, clinicians and engineers understand, replace, repair and enhance the nervous system.