Frontiers in Dyslexia of Children or Neurodevelopmental Disorders

A special issue of Brain Sciences (ISSN 2076-3425). This special issue belongs to the section "Educational Neuroscience".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (10 March 2021) | Viewed by 26666

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MoDyCo, UMR 7114 CNRS, Université Paris Nanterre, 92000 Nanterre, France
Interests: EEG; dyslexia; ADHD; eye tracker; posture; ASD
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Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

About 5%-10% of the school-aged population suffers from dyslexia. Although several hypotheses have been suggested, the etiology of dyslexia is still not well known. During the last decade, research studies have tested different training types in dyslexic children in order to improve their reading abilities, but the scientific community is divided on their efficacy.

This Special Issue of Brain Sciences aims to provide a collection of studies that highlight the most recent advancements in the field of dyslexia research. We invite authors to submit cutting-edge studies that address a broad range of topics related to dyslexia, including epidemiology, screening, early diagnosis, training, language, imaging, eye-tracking, posture, EEG, fMRI, and adaptive behaviors.

Dr. Maria Pia Bucci
Guest Editor

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Keywords

  • dyslexia
  • brain
  • training
  • neurodevelopmental disorders

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Published Papers (5 papers)

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Research

23 pages, 376 KiB  
Article
Confronting Lexical Choice and Error Distribution in Written French: New Insights into the Linguistic Insecurity of Students with Dyslexia
by Audrey Mazur-Palandre, Matthieu Quignard and Agnès Witko
Brain Sci. 2021, 11(7), 922; https://doi.org/10.3390/brainsci11070922 - 12 Jul 2021
Cited by 5 | Viewed by 3335
Abstract
The main goal of this paper is to analyze written texts produced by monolingual French university students, with and without dyslexia. More specifically, we were interested in the linguistic characteristics of the words used during a written production and of the type of [...] Read more.
The main goal of this paper is to analyze written texts produced by monolingual French university students, with and without dyslexia. More specifically, we were interested in the linguistic characteristics of the words used during a written production and of the type of word errors. Previous studies showed that students with dyslexia have difficulties in written production, whether in terms of the number of spelling errors, some syntactic aspects, identification of errors, confusion of monosyllabic words, omissions of words in sentences, or utilization of unexpected or inappropriate vocabulary. For this present study, students with dyslexia and control students were asked to produce written and spoken narrative and expository texts. The written texts (N = 86) were collected using Eye and Pen© software with digitizing tablets. Results reveal that students with dyslexia do not censor themselves as regards the choice of words in their written productions. They use the same types of words as the control students. Nevertheless, they make many more errors than the control students on all types of words, regardless of their linguistic characteristics (length, frequency, grammatical classes, etc.). Finally, these quantitative analyses help to target a rather unexpected subset of errors: short words, and in particular determiners and prepositions. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Frontiers in Dyslexia of Children or Neurodevelopmental Disorders)
19 pages, 1200 KiB  
Article
The Relation between Physiological Parameters and Colour Modifications in Text Background and Overlay during Reading in Children with and without Dyslexia
by Tamara Jakovljević, Milica M. Janković, Andrej M. Savić, Ivan Soldatović, Gordana Čolić, Tadeja Jere Jakulin, Gregor Papa and Vanja Ković
Brain Sci. 2021, 11(5), 539; https://doi.org/10.3390/brainsci11050539 - 25 Apr 2021
Cited by 17 | Viewed by 6556
Abstract
Reading is one of the essential processes during the maturation of an individual. It is estimated that 5–10% of school-age children are affected by dyslexia, the reading disorder characterised by difficulties in the accuracy or fluency of word recognition. There are many studies [...] Read more.
Reading is one of the essential processes during the maturation of an individual. It is estimated that 5–10% of school-age children are affected by dyslexia, the reading disorder characterised by difficulties in the accuracy or fluency of word recognition. There are many studies which have reported that coloured overlays and background could improve the reading process, especially in children with reading disorders. As dyslexia has neurobiological origins, the aim of the present research was to understand the relationship between physiological parameters and colour modifications in the text and background during reading in children with and without dyslexia. We have measured differences in electroencephalography (EEG), heart rate variability (HRV), electrodermal activities (EDA) and eye movements of the 36 school-age (from 8 to 12 years old) children (18 with dyslexia and 18 of control group) during the reading task in 13 combinations of background and overlay colours. Our findings showed that the dyslexic children have longer reading duration, fixation count, fixation duration average, fixation duration total, and longer saccade count, saccade duration total, and saccade duration average while reading on white and coloured background/overlay. It was found that the turquoise background, turquoise overlay, and yellow background colours are beneficial for dyslexic readers, as they achieved the shortest time duration of the reading tasks when these colours were used. Additionally, dyslexic children have higher values of beta (15–40 Hz) and the broadband EEG (0.5–40 Hz) power while reading in one particular colour (purple), as well as increasing theta range power while reading with the purple overlay. We have observed no significant differences between HRV parameters on white colour, except for single colours (purple, turquoise overlay, and yellow overlay) where the control group showed higher values for mean HR, while dyslexic children scored higher with mean RR. Regarding EDA measure, we found systematically lower values in children with dyslexia in comparison to the control group. Based on the present results, we can conclude that both pastel and intense background/overlays are beneficial for reading of both groups and all sensor modalities could be used to better understand the neurophysiological origins in dyslexic children. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Frontiers in Dyslexia of Children or Neurodevelopmental Disorders)
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19 pages, 797 KiB  
Article
Dyslexic Readers Improve without Training When Using a Computer-Guided Reading Strategy
by Reinhard Werth
Brain Sci. 2021, 11(5), 526; https://doi.org/10.3390/brainsci11050526 - 21 Apr 2021
Cited by 10 | Viewed by 3704
Abstract
Background: Flawless reading presupposes the ability to simultaneously recognize a sequence of letters, to fixate words at a given location for a given time, to exert eye movements of a given amplitude, and to retrieve phonems rapidly from memory. Poor reading performance may [...] Read more.
Background: Flawless reading presupposes the ability to simultaneously recognize a sequence of letters, to fixate words at a given location for a given time, to exert eye movements of a given amplitude, and to retrieve phonems rapidly from memory. Poor reading performance may be due to an impairment of at least one of these abilities. Objectives: It was investigated whether reading performance of dyslexic children can be improved by changing the reading strategy without any previous training. Methods: 60 dyslexic German children read a text without and with the help of a computer. A tailored computer program subdivided the text into segments that consisted of no more letters than the children could simultaneously recognize, indicated the location in the segments to which the gaze should be directed, indicated how long the gaze should be directed to each segment, which reading saccades the children should execute, and when the children should pronounce the segments. The computer aided reading was not preceded by any training. Results: It was shown that the rate of reading mistakes dropped immediately by 69.97% if a computer determined the reading process. Computer aided reading reached the highest effect size of Cohen d = 2.649. Conclusions: The results show which abilities are indispensable for reading, that the impairment of at least one of the abilities leads to reading deficiencies that are diagnosed as dyslexia, and that a computer-guided, altered reading strategy immediately reduces the rate of reading mistakes. There was no evidence that dyslexia is due to a lack of eye movement control or reduced visual attention. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Frontiers in Dyslexia of Children or Neurodevelopmental Disorders)
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11 pages, 1072 KiB  
Article
Vestibular Functioning in Children with Neurodevelopmental Disorders Using the Functional Head Impulse Test
by Simona Caldani, Moetez Baghdadi, Ana Moscoso, Eric Acquaviva, Christophe-Loïc Gerard, Vincenzo Marcelli, Hugo Peyre, Paola Atzori, Richard Delorme and Maria Pia Bucci
Brain Sci. 2020, 10(11), 887; https://doi.org/10.3390/brainsci10110887 - 20 Nov 2020
Cited by 16 | Viewed by 4535
Abstract
Several studies in children with neurodevelopmental disorders (NDDs) including autism spectrum disorders (ASDs), reading impairment, or attention deficit/hyperactive disorder (ADHD) pointed toward a potential dysfunction of the vestibular system, specifically in its complex relationship with the cerebellum. The aim of the present study [...] Read more.
Several studies in children with neurodevelopmental disorders (NDDs) including autism spectrum disorders (ASDs), reading impairment, or attention deficit/hyperactive disorder (ADHD) pointed toward a potential dysfunction of the vestibular system, specifically in its complex relationship with the cerebellum. The aim of the present study was to test the functional vestibulo-ocular reflex (VOR) responses in children with NDDs to measure functional performance of the vestibular system. The VOR is specifically involved in this stabilization of the image on the retina during rapid movements of the head. To perform this study, four groups of children with ASD, ADHD, reading impairment, and with neurotypical development (TD) were enrolled (n = 80). We performed the functional head impulse test (fHIT), which measured the percentage of correct responses by asking the child to identify an optotype briefly presented during passive head impulse in each direction of each semicircular canal plane. We observed significantly lower correct answers in children with NDDs compared with those with TD (p < 0.0001). Surprisingly, there was no significant difference between the three groups of children with NDDs. Our study fostered preliminary evidence suggesting altered efficiency of vestibular system in children with NDDs. VOR abnormalities estimated using the fHIT could be used as a proxy of NDD impairments in children, and represent a potential biomarker. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Frontiers in Dyslexia of Children or Neurodevelopmental Disorders)
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13 pages, 1667 KiB  
Article
Visual Attentional Training Improves Reading Capabilities in Children with Dyslexia: An Eye Tracker Study During a Reading Task
by Simona Caldani, Christophe-Loïc Gerard, Hugo Peyre and Maria Pia Bucci
Brain Sci. 2020, 10(8), 558; https://doi.org/10.3390/brainsci10080558 - 15 Aug 2020
Cited by 23 | Viewed by 7465
Abstract
Dyslexia is a specific disorder in reading abilities. The aim of this study was to explore whether a short visual attentional training could improve reading capabilities in children with reading disorders by changing their oculomotor characteristics. Two groups (G1 and G2) of 25 [...] Read more.
Dyslexia is a specific disorder in reading abilities. The aim of this study was to explore whether a short visual attentional training could improve reading capabilities in children with reading disorders by changing their oculomotor characteristics. Two groups (G1 and G2) of 25 children with reading disabilities and who are matched in IQ (intelligence quotient), sex, and age participated in the study. The allocation of a subject to a specific group (G1 = experimental group; G2 = control group) was generated in an unpredictable random sequence. The reading task was recorded twice for G1, i.e., before (T1) and after (T2) 10 min of visual attentional training. Training consisted of oculomotor tasks (saccades and pursuits movements) and searching tasks (three different exercises). For G2, the two reading tasks at T1 and T2 were done at an interval of 10 min instead. We found that at T1, oculomotor performances during reading were statistically similar for both groups of children with reading disabilities (G1 and G2). At T2, the group G1 only improved oculomotor capabilities significantly during reading; in particular, children read faster, and their fixation time was shortest. We conclude that short visual attentional training could improve the cortical mechanisms responsible for attention and reading capabilities. Further studies on a larger number of dyslexic children will be necessary in order to explore the effects of different training types on the visual attentional span given its important role on the orienting and focusing visuospatial attention and on the oculomotor performance in children with dyslexia. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Frontiers in Dyslexia of Children or Neurodevelopmental Disorders)
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