Neuron Learning

Norman Doidge Talk in Australia

Norman Doidge will speak on Learning Difficulties including dyslexia  and reading.

Seminar 1:       The Brain that Changes Itself in the Classroom – Lessons from the Frontiers of Brain
                        Science
                         2:00pm - 4:30pm (light refreshments served from 1:30pm)


Seminar 2:       The plastic brain & the new science of learning – How new breakthroughs can help 
                        people (from learning disabled to the most gifted) benefit from brain training   
                        7pm - 9-30pm (light refreshments served from 6-30pm)

See the Learnfast Australia site Seminar Details

Parents 'often unaware of glue ear risks', according to Mumsnet website survey | Society | The Observer

There is increasing awareness of the medical impact of Glue Ear. See The Observer
Parents 'often unaware of glue ear risks', according to Mumsnet website survey | Society | The Observer.

However less is known about the impact on a child's education. Dr Lindsay Peer refers to the following difficulties being common:

•        Misunderstand written word

•        Poor spelling

•        Poor speed of language processing

•        Confusion - vowel and consonant sounds

•        Difficulty learning phonics

•        Poor imitation of rhythmic patterns

•        Understanding sequence of language

•        Learning sequences e.g. days of week, months of year, before, after

•        Cannot hold three or more items in short term memory

•        Poor concentration

•        Easily distractible

See her website here

We use Fast ForWord to overcome these difficulties. We are getting more and more referrals from audiologists and speech and language therapists as they see the gains their clients make using the programs.

Writing Disorder May Be Common ... ( Study finds rate as high as 14.7 %...)

I have not seen any data from European schools on writing language disorder. A reecent study in the US indicates its as high as 14.7%. The causes are not identified but may be similar to language issues (genes/socio-economic and so on). Is it higher in dyslexics or autistic students? We do see that students with receptive language processing issues may also have expressive langauge difficulties.There are no specifics on the symptoms. The costs to society and the individual are apparent I think. Food for thought.


Writing Disorder May Be Common ... ( Study finds rate as high as 14.7 perc...).

Early Signs of Autism

The point is that the earlier the intervention the better. But what early development signs should parents be looking out for?

As Geralding Dawson of Autism Speaks says "What we see in autism may be partly the result of not engaging with the social environment. So if you engage the baby through an intervention, you might prevent or at least reduce the development of autism symptoms."

Among the telltale signs of trouble at 12 months: not responding to one's name; not sharing interests through pointing and eye gaze; lack of joyful expression; an absence of babbling; difficulty establishing eye contact; and staring too long at inanimate objects (see FirstSigns.org )

This is an interesting article and well worth reading

Researchers Find First Signs of Autism Even in Infancy - TIME.

Glue Ear

We often think that there is a link between glue and learning issues. Certainly Dr. Lindsay Peer in her research demonstrates this The symptoms are clear, lack of phonemic awareness, poor listening accuracy, weak phonological processing. These language issues are reflected in their reading skills. Also there is a link to things like poor listening skills, lack of attention, shortfalls in working memory and so on.

Here is an article in The Telegraph. Also I am happy to send you out a report on this whole aspect of auditory processing.

Thousands of children wrongly diagnosed with dyslexia - Telegraph

Its controversial or he is I should say, Prof Joe Elliott of Durham University, previously of the tv program on Channel 4.

It does point to the need to identify the fundamental issues. We spend a lot a lot of time on evaluations and analysis. We monitor the daily results to build a comprehensive picture of the student. This way we are confident that we addressing the key issues.


Thousands of children wrongly diagnosed with dyslexia - Telegraph.

Screening Test for Dyslexia

It is possible to predict dyslexia using gene research? At least it may provide a simple screening test. This follows up on the recent exciting news on autism.

Now $5.2 million research on dyslexia .

Jeffrey Gruen, an associate professor of pediatrics and genomics at the Yale School of Medicine has a $5 million research fund to compare the genomes of 1,000 dyslexic children with those of 1,000 non-dyslexic children.

The comparison will allow Gruen to develop a more detailed picture of the genes that have been implicated in reading disabilities and to possibly identify other genes relating to dyslexia.

Take a look at April Bendich's work in Rutgers University and also Nadine Gaab in Harvard Medical School.

Yale Daily News - Briefly: Medical school receives $5.2M to develop screening test for dyslexia.

The Missing Link between Reading and Sounds

Interesting study from the Netherlands into the role of the speed of processing. Dyslexic readers show slower brain processing during tests matching sound pairs monitored under FMRI scans.

"The findings suggest that in those with dyslexia, there may be a breakdown in brain function occurring as they acquire spoken language as children, long before they start trying to read and write.

When asked to match letters and their sounds, the dyslexic readers performed well, but took longer than the others, says Vera Blau, a PhD student in cognitive neuroscience at Maastricht University."

The study may have implications for the prediction of dyslexia in younger children according to Nadine Gaab of Harvard University. See her study on reading here ""It shows the missing link between reading and sound processing," she says. Over the last 20 years, she says, this potential link has been ignored by even well-meaning doctors and educators, in favour of remedial reading lessons. "But if you think about it, when you learn to read, the four years of preparation are all coming through the ears."

The study have also have implications for other leraning disorders such as ADHD also according to Gaab.

As I said interesting stuff, certailly we see aspects of this in our centres. It shows that science is closing the knowledge gap on theses disorders and of course how to remedy them

Click here to see the full article

Timing and Autism

I thought this was a very interesting article---especially in light of discussions about whether children with autism/aspergers will benefit from Fast ForWord training, since a large part of the Fast ForWord training involves improving the speed of processing. This reserch indicates the importance of timing.

As one Fast ForWord provider says, "Wow!--This article just screams,
"Consider Fast ForWord for autistic kids!" Not only is there evidence of a
link between auditory processing deficits and autism, but the auditory
processing deficits are exactly the type that Fast ForWord is designed to
ameliorate."

"Timing appears to be crucial. "Children with autism respond a fraction of a second more slowly than healthy children to vowel sounds and tones,"

"Faint magnetic signals from brain activity in children with autism show that those children process sound and language differently from non-autistic children. Identifying and classifying these brain response patterns may allow researchers to more accurately diagnose autism and possibly aid in developing more effective treatments for the developmental timing appears to be crucial...."

Click here to see the article

The shapes of letters and their fonts may play a part in dyslexia. It's not my area of expertise. This emerging research is interesting though.

The Science Daily article outlines the research done in Victoria University

"The next time you are reading a book, or even as you read this article, consider the words that you are seeing. How do you recognize these words? Substantial research has shown that while reading, we recognize words by their letters and not by the general shape of the word. However, it was largely unknown how we differentiate one letter from another. The full article is here