Dyslexia is an umbrella term for various disorders that involve difficulty in learning to read or interpret words, letters, and symbols. Though dyslexia does not impact overall intelligence in any way, this condition can still cause some problems in certain aspects of life. That’s especially true when children are in school, when difficulties reading, writing, doing math, and keeping up with their peers is especially painful.
It’s estimated that more than 40 million American adults are dyslexic to some degree but, sadly, only 2 million know it.
According to research carried out by the Basque Center on Cognition, Brain and Language (BCBL) of San Sebastian, a person’s brain can actually be trained to combat the onset of dyslexia. In recent years, several neuro-scientific studies have shown that the auditory regions of the brain actually synchronize with the tone and intonation of speech, influencing how language is actually processed, meaning that the brain is able to naturally adjust the frequently of its brain waves with the rhythm of what it listened to at each passing moment.
The majority of children diagnosed with dyslexia can still succeed in school, provided they are paired with a tutor or are placed in a specialized education program, but this breakthrough research can help parents identify and prevent dyslexia far earlier on in a child’s life.
“For example, brain synchronization can be measured while a child with dyslexia is listening and giving a reward if it stimulates more synchronization with the low frequency band,” said Nicola Molinaro, a BCBL researcher. “It can help those who are out of sync to pay more attention to the tones, accents, and intonations of speech. With repeated training sessions, we can help children with language delay to cover the mechanisms of attention.”
For parents, it’s important to keep an eye out for early symptoms of dyslexia, including late stage communicating, struggling to learn new words, and the inability to read or write. Contact a medical professional if you think your child has a learning disability.