How Can Birds help with Dyslexia Research?

Currently, there is a study being conducted through the University of Virginia’s Brain Institute to develop a model for dyslexia and other language disorders through birds. Specifically, the Zebra Finch.  Unlike some other animals, Zebra Finches learn how to communicate through song from their parents. In the same manner, these Finches are similar to infants, as their auditory system is shaped by exposure to adult speech. 

What is The Study Trying To Accomplish?

Dyslexia, a disorder which affects millions of children, is often characterized by a difficulty with reading. The goal of the study is to be able to observe how changing the birds genes can alter how the finches brain processes sound.  There are several genes that have been implicated in the development of dyslexia and other speech disorders. Changes in one of the genes called KIAA0319 has been associated with an increase in the likelihood of developing dyslexia.

Coming to an understanding of how these changes affect the Finch, we can start coming to conclusions on how we as human being process sound. Also, we can further our understanding of how people develop dyslexia. 

The Bottom Line

This new research is exciting because it can help further understanding of how someone may get Dyslexia.  A study like this can also try and apply its model in a therapeutic setting. However, the research is still being conducted. Although an exciting and promising study, we do not know how different genes in proteins associated with dyslexia-related disorders will manifest in these birds. 

The Pathways team of professionals has helped thousands of people with Dyslexia. We are Dedicated to effective and compassionate care for individuals with neurological challenges.

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Does My Child Have Dyslexia?

Although one in five children have dyslexia, it is often poorly understood and misdiagnosed. This is because dyslexia is often mistaken as a general intellectual disability. To the contrary, dyslexia is a very specific disorder that relates only to decoding and reading words. Those with dyslexia are not deficient in sensory capabilities, nor in ability in comprehension and higher level reasoning skills.

These distinctions are important because a proper diagnosis is crucial in providing the right resources for your child. Once treated, children with dyslexia can thrive in school in beyond. While a professional diagnosis is essential, here is a list of early signs to watch out for in deciding whether your child might have dyslexia:

Delay in speaking

Children with dyslexia will have a delay in speech development, albeit a modest one. While most children beginning seeking first words around twelve months of age, those with dyslexia may not begin speaking first words until fifteen to twenty-four months. Delays in speech may mean many things, so this alone is not sufficient for a diagnosis.

Difficulties in pronunciation

While minor speech problems are found in many children, dyslexic children may have significant problems with word pronunciation as compared to age matched peers. Sometimes pronunciation difficulties do not appear until later in life when vocabulary becomes more complex. Moreover, some children will have difficulties understanding similarities between words. This can lead to deficits understanding rhymes with dyslexic children not understanding which words rhyme and which do not.

Children with dyslexia may also have problems mastering the alphabet in school. Recognition of individual letters and associating specific sounds with those letters are essential for reading development. Delays in any of these areas raise the possibility of dyslexia.

Dyslexia is a localized disorder relating to word phonology and recognition. When an accurate diagnosis is made, proper treatment and strategies may allow children to succeed in school and adults thrive in the workplace.

If you are suspicious that you or loved one has dyslexia, contact Pathways today for a comprehensive evaluation. It is time to alleviate frustrations and get on the right track.

The Pathways team of professionals has helped thousands of people with Dyslexia. We are Dedicated to effective and compassionate care for individuals with neurological challenges.

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What is MSL (Multisensory Structured Language) and Can it Help those with Dyslexia?

Links are consistently being made between the language we see, the language we hear, and the language symbols we touch when learning to read and spell.

MSL is distinct from other methods of learning because it engages multiple senses at a time. Specifically, it engages visual, auditory, and kinesthetic pathways simultaneously, to enhance the learning of language.

How does MSL instruction work?

Students engage with MSL learning material in more than one way.

For example, students might learn the letter “d” by simultaneously writing it out with finger paint and saying it out loud.

Another example is the Wilson Reading System technique, which has students tap out each sound of a word with their fingers, to help break a word down.

Students learn to link speech sounds (phonemes) to letters or letter patterns by saying sounds for letters they see, or writing letters for sounds they hear.  It conveys information through things like touch and movement—called kinesthetic elements—as well as sight and hearing.

How can MSL help those Diagnosed with Dyslexia?

Students with dyslexia often exhibit weaknesses in underlying language skills involving speech sound (phonological) and written language (orthographic) processing and in building brain pathways that connect speech with written language.

The brain pathways used for reading and spelling must develop to transmit information with sufficient speed and accuracy.

Children with Dyslexia have trouble learning to recognize words automatically, or fast enough to allow comprehension.  This causes problems in forming memories for common words.

Specialized instruction like MSL, can be very helpful in mastering the alphabetic code and forming common word memories.

MSL instruction helps children with Dyslexia harness their strengths to make connections and form memories by using a wide range of ways to demonstrate what they’ve learned.

The MSL approach offers the students the advantage of learning alphabetic patterns and words with an engagement of all learning modalities.

All children can benefit from MSL lessons, but MSL can be particularly helpful for kids with learning and attention issues like Dyslexia.

Current research, much of it supported by the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD), has demonstrated the value of MSL language teaching for all students, especially those with dyslexia.

The Pathways team of professionals has helped thousands of people with Dyslexia. We are Dedicated to effective and compassionate care for individuals with neurological challenges.

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Dyslexia and Reading Terms & Definitions

• Alphabet principle is the letter combination, as well as individual letters, which constitute symbols that are used to represent speech sounds. The letters and combinations are based on systematic and known relationships between written letters and spoken words.

• Digraph is one sound resulting from the combination of two letters (e.g., ph or ey). In the English language, there are many digraphs made up of both consonants and vowels.

• Diphthong is a single syllable speech sound (e.g., the combination of two vowels in words such as boy or may) that begins at or near the point of articulation of one vowel and proceeds to the place of another vowel.

Dyslexia “Dyslexia is a specific learning disability that is neurobiological in origin. It is characterized by difficulties with accurate and/or fluent word recognition and by poor spelling and decoding abilities. These difficulties typically result from a deficit in the phonological component of language that is often unexpected in relation to other cognitive abilities and the provision of effective classroom instruction. Secondary consequences may include problems in reading comprehension and reduced reading experience that can impede growth of vocabulary and background knowledge.”

Adopted by the IDA Board of Directors, Nov. 12, 2002. Many state education codes, including New Jersey, Ohio and Utah, have adopted this definition.

• Grapheme is the smallest unit of writing, which individually may not have meaning and does not necessarily correspond with a single phoneme (e.g., the “s” and the “oo” in the word spoon).

• Logographic stage is visual and involves the rote memory of words that are related to graphic symbols. This can be known as visual reading.

• Morphology is the study of words, how words are put together, and the relationship of words or other words. It is the analysis of the structure and parts of words, such as word stems, roots, prefixes, and suffixes.

• Phonemic awareness is the ability to hear, recall, identify, manipulate and use individual letter sound phonemes spoken words. It is a critical predictor of a child’s future reading ability.

• Phonological awareness is the knowledge of the sound structure (or phonological structure) of words.

• Semantics involves the meaning and interpretation of words, sentence structure, and signs.

• Syntax includes the rules, principles, and the process by which the structure of sentences are formed and includes word order and punctuation.

The Pathways team of professionals has helped thousands of people with Dyslexia. We are Dedicated to effective and compassionate care for individuals with neurological challenges.

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The 3 Ways Dyslexia is Experienced

Dyslexia is more complex than what was originally understood. Research now demonstrates that there are 3 subsets of dyslexia; phonological awareness, rapid automated naming, and double deficit.

This was demonstrated by different patterns of brain activation of the participants when reading and rhyming words.

Phonological Dyslexia

Phonological Dyslexia is a brain disorder, that causes extreme difficulty in assembling words based off of what the words sound like.

It makes it extremely difficult to recognize and articulate the sound of spoken words. This makes it very difficult to sound out words.

Phonological Dyslexia is the most common form of dyslexia, and is considered synonymous with dyslexia itself.

Rapid Automatized Naming (RAN) Deficit

Sometimes referred to as naming speed, rapid naming, or visual dyslexia, it is the speed with which one can name a series of familiar stimuli such as letters, numbers, colors and objects out loud, and reflects the automaticity of processes which are also important for reading.

This can result in saying the wrong word or not being able to say the right word because it’s on the tip of their tongue.

People with RAN will not have difficulties with recognizing and articulating words like people who have phonological dyslexia,  however RAN will cause one’s fluency and comprehension to be affected, because it takes longer to retrieve language information.

Double Deficit Dyslexia 

Double Deficit Dyslexia is as straightforward as it sounds. It is a deficit in both, phonological awareness (of the sounds in words) and RAN according to the double-deficit hypothesis.

This subtype is the least common and the hardest to remediate.

If you have concerns you might have dyslexia, contact us for a comprehensive evaluation and effective treatment.

The Pathways team of professionals has helped thousands of people with Dyslexia. We are Dedicated to effective and compassionate care for individuals with neurological challenges.

• Dyslexia Symptoms
• Dyslexia Treatments
• Dyslexia Solutions