“Rewiring” the brain to solve reading problems
“After more than a century of frustration, it has now been shown that the brain can be rewired and that struggling children can become skilled readers.” — S. Shaywitz
Functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging (fMRI) is high-resolution, soft tissue imaging that allows us to actually watch the brain at work. An fMRI can show changes in blood oxygenation thanks to the magnetic properties of hemoglobin in blood. When the brain is at work, increased blood flow is visible where neurons are actively processing.
Studies utilizing fMRI technology can document active areas in the brain while dyslexics and non-dyslexics attempt to read. An interesting pattern emerges. Good readers utilize pathways mostly located in the back of the brain (the “occipito-temporal” region; the area responsible for automatic decoding and deciphering based on stored and fully processed sound/word/meaning associations) with limited activity in front. Poor readers, dyslexics, show underactivation in the back and overactivation in the front of the brain (Broca’s area and the parietotemporal system; the area also used by new readers to analyze letter shapes and unfamiliar words).
Why do such fMRI scans matter? By pinpointing the area of the brain utilized most heavily while
reading, we learn that beginning and poor readers are forced to use slower analytic pathways on virtually every word while skilled, fluent readers use a more automatic, “express auditory processing route” to see a word and automatically (and correctly) assign pronunciation and meaning. This understanding allows us to measure the effectiveness of various remedial reading strategies. Evidence continues to prove that exposure to intense, effective training in reading can actually transfer brain activity while reading from the analysis areas common in poor readers to the more efficient automatic processing centers naturally used by good readers.
Notes:
Shaywitz, Sally. Overcoming Dyslexia. Vintage Books, Random House. New York. 2005.