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A dyslexia research team at Yale University's Center for Learning and Attention lead by
Dr. Sally Shaywitz has found a window on the brain through a new imaging technique called
functional MRI. These medical scientists have identified parts of the brain used in
reading. By observing the flow of oxygen-rich blood to working brain cells, they have
found that people who know how to sound out words can rapidly process what they see. This
information has shed new light on dyslexia and how to help dyslexics.
When readers are asked to imagine "cat" without the "kah" sound,
they readily summon "at." The MRI photographs show their brains lighting up like
pinball machines. When the brain gets it, the light bulbs really do go on. However, the
brains of people who can't sound out words often look different on MRI pictures. There is
less blood flow to the language centers of the brain and, in some cases, not much activity
evident at all. Scientist's are not sure why this is or what it means. But simply put,
without the ability to sound out words, the brain is stumped.
Basically this research seems to be saying that the brain learns to read the same way
it learns to talk, one sound at a time. When babies first learn to talk they may slowly
say one sound at a time. Once they get the hang of it, they speed up. Our brain becomes
adept at processing and our experience is that of hearing words but actually our brain is
processing sounds (phonemes) and putting them together so we hear words. When we read the
same process is in operation. Our brain is processing one sound at a time but we perceive
it as a whole word. In good readers, the process is so fast it appears that they are
reading whole words but in fact they are converting the letters on the written page into
sounds. The brain then recognizes groups of sounds as words.
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