CAN DYSLEXIA BE CURED?

WHAT THE LATEST NEUROSCIENCE TELLS US ABOUT THE PROGNOSIS

BY GEORGIE NORMAND, M.A.

Although neuroscientists do not use the word “cured” when referring to dyslexia intervention outcomes, the science looking into this question is very encouraging. 

In this age of neuroimaging, we can actually track brain changes that occur as a result of reading intervention. This is an emerging science in dyslexia, but recent imaging studies demonstrate that the brain can and does respond to intervention. When a group of researchers reviewed 39 before-and-after neuroimaging studies, they found evidence of positive changes in activation, connectivity, and even brain structure after reading intervention. Some of these studies reported a normalization of the reading network in the brain after intervention. 

THE LANGUAGE OF NEUROSCIENCE

Neuroscientists that study dyslexia use the word recovery rather than cure. They define recovery as the normalization of any weak processes of reading and reading-related brain networks. Compensation is another related process that can be seen in imaging studies of individuals with dyslexia when they are reading. It refers to the finding that areas of the brain not typically associated

with reading, show hyperactivation in individuals with dyslexia. Some believe that this hyperactivation is evidence that individuals with dyslexia use a variety of compensatory strategies when reading. 

Even non-dyslexic readers use compensatory strategies, but we now know that dyslexic readers use them to a greater extent, and for a longer period of time. Reading intervention sometimes increases the activation of pathways not normally involved in reading, but not always. More research is needed in this area of dyslexia. 

Connectomics is another term important to how dyslexia recovery can be viewed and measured. It refers to how efficiently cognitive processes required for reading are being coordinated throughout the brain. Think of it as the "it takes a village" idiom. Reading success involves not just one brain region, but the entire brain network architecture. This is why explicit and systematic phonics instruction, by itself, will not remediate dyslexia.

In dyslexia, there is a lack of coordination between brain regions. This explains why dyslexic children and teens often fail to reach grade level fluency, even after years of phonics instruction. New studies have found that by targeting these inefficiencies in the intervention, they can make progress much faster.