Reading practice can alter brain wires: Study

a method solution to raise literacy level and resolve learning disabilities

Pittsburg, December 14 -- Children with poor reading skills need not lose hope. If the findings of a new study are anything to go by, such children are likely to benefit from intensive remedial reading programs.

Such programs not only enable children with reading ability issues become better readers but also help in rewiring brains that are better at communicating, the study established.

Groups under study
For the purpose of the study, Marcel Just and Timothy Keller of the Carnegie Mellon University scanned the brains of 72 children prior to and after these children underwent a half-a-year course to make them better readers.

Out of the total group of 72 children, 35 were assigned to an intensive remedial reading program, while 12 were assigned to a control group that received the conventional classroom instruction.

The children in both the aforementioned groups were poor readers. Another group of 25 children, rated average or above-average readers, was also under the purview of the study.

Quality of white matter improved
With the help of an imaging device called diffusion tensor imaging, the researchers examined the white matter in the children’s brain. This white matter in the brain tissue is responsible for carrying signals between areas of grey matter, where information is processed.

The findings of the study revealed that quality of white matter in the brains of the participants, aged between 8 and 10, improved significantly after 100 hours of the corrective reading training program. Children who did not receive the training did not show any increase in the white matter of the brain.

Just revealed, "The amount of improvement in the white matter in an individual was correlated with that individual's improvement in his reading ability."

"Showing that it's possible to rewire a brain's white matter has important implications for treating reading disabilities and other developmental disorders, including autism," claimed Just.

Study hailed
The study, funded by National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH), has been lauded by Thomas R. Insel, director of the sponsoring organization.

Insel averred, "We have known that behavioural training can enhance brain function. The exciting breakthrough here is detecting changes in brain connectivity with behavioural treatment.”

“This finding with reading deficits suggests an exciting new approach to be tested in the treatment of mental disorders, which increasingly appear to be due to problems in specific brain circuits," added Insel.

The findings of the study have been published online in the journal Neuron.