Can you change an 88-year-old brain? This question came up when Mr. JT Johnson, 88, started using an AI program to correct his dyslexia. Dyslexia is a common reading difficulty that affects 1 in 5 people (Yale Center for Dyslexia, 2022). It is classified as a learning disability in schools.
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Kindergarten deficits in letter knowledge and phonological awareness, morphological awareness, and rapid automatized naming were associated with increased risk for dyslexia.
Cognitive-linguistic deficits in kindergarten are associated with an increased risk for early- and late-emerging dyslexia, according to a study published online March 24 in JAMA Network Open.
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Difficulties in forming letter-speech sound associations may constitute a challenge for individuals with dyslexia. However, the learning trajectories of these associations remain poorly understood. This EEG study examined behavioral and neural changes while 31 typical and 31 dyslexic adult readers learned to map six novel symbols to Dutch spoken syllables with either high or low phonological similarity. Both groups demonstrated successful learning with learning-related ERP changes over frontotemporal, temporoparietal, and occipitoparietal regions. Phonologically similar vs. dissimilar pairs showed lower accuracy, slower reaction times, and reduced ERP responses, with earlier frontotemporal effects in dyslexic vs. typical readers (block 2 vs. blocks 3–4). As for learning outcomes, both groups showed temporoparietal (mis)matching responses in the last block. Dyslexic readers had lower post-training symbol reading scores, which correlated with their reading and phonological skills. Our findings indicate comparable learning during initial symbol-sound association in dyslexic readers, but difficulties applying novel associations during reading.
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Rotem Yinon, Ph.D., from the Edmond J. Safra Brain Research Center for the Study of Learning Disabilities at the University of Haifa in Israel, and colleagues examined whether and to what extent deficits in four cognitive-linguistic domains in kindergarten estimate the risk for early- and late-emerging dyslexia (grades 1 and 4, respectively) in a prospective longitudinal cohort study. Measures, assessed in kindergarten, included phonological awareness, rapid automatized naming, letter knowledge, and morphological awareness.
The study included 515 Hebrew-speaking children (mean age, 5.9 years). The researchers found that kindergarten deficits in letter knowledge and phonological awareness were associated with increased risk for dyslexia in grade 1 (odds ratios, 4.75 and 4.17, respectively). Deficits in letter knowledge, morphological awareness, and rapid automatized naming were associated with an increased risk for dyslexia in grade 4 (odds ratios, 3.57, 2.56, and 2.39, respectively), independent of risk in grade 1 (odds ratio, 4.98).
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Rep. Mary Frances Clardy (DFL-Inver Grove Heights) sponsors HF60 that, as amended, would mandate a two-hour dyslexia training for teachers holding Tier 1-4 licenses when renewing licenses. It was laid over for possible omnibus bill inclusion.
The bill would mandate the Department of Education to review dyslexia trainings and post at least three on its website that teachers could complete for free to meet the new requirement.
Sarah Bernhardt, a school psychologist with Groves Learning Organization, wrote in support of the bill. “When dyslexia is not recognized by educators, the cost to students extends well beyond reading performance. The effects are often emotional, behavioral, and cumulative. Children with dyslexia may experience anxiety, embarrassment, frustration, and a growing sense of failure when their struggles are misunderstood.”
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Evian Johnson, or Evie, is one of the candidates for Miss Teen South Dakota.
“I’m trying to beat my goals of last year. I’ve spoken to a lot of classrooms all over our state,” said Evian.
The Brookings High School senior is still doing that, where she reads books that have a common theme: dyslexia.
Something she was diagnosed with dyslexia at a young age.
“I couldn’t read. The best my words moved like this in a wave. I could read the really big words. My favorite word to say is gluteus maximus, which is butt. I could read that as a little kid, but I couldn’t read the words at or the. My brain couldn’t comprehend those words, and it made me feel different in a bad way,” said Evian.
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