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  • Springboard for Children - A ground-breaking project which has had extraordinary success in helping hundreds of dyslexic children and others struggling to read and write at primary school is poised for a major expansion across Britain. Springboard for Children, an education charity which now has the enthusiastic backing of the British Dyslexia Association, has achieved a 90 per cent success rate in returning children with severe literacy problems to mainstream classrooms. The revolutionary scheme is being used in a dozen schools in Manchester and London, and the plan is now to set the scheme up in ten other inner-city areas – bringing a lifeline to around 10,000 children suffering from dyslexia and other difficulties with reading and writing. The Springboard project relies on intense one-on-one tuition for up to two years, during which a host of innovative techniques are employed to improve the child's skills. Details
    
    
    
  • 21% of prison inmates are dyslexic - A recent study of 357 UK prisoners by Dr John Rach of Dyslexia Action found that 21% of them were dyslexia, and 38% of them sufered from some form of disability. Details
    
    
    
  • Unraveling Dyslexic Brains - Researchers at the University of Washington in Seattle are making strides understanding how dyslexic brains work. Developmental neuropsychologist Virginia Berninger, Ph.D., and neurophysicist Todd Richards, Ph.D., lead a team of researchers whose studies have shown that the brains of children with dyslexia work about five times harder than other children's brains when performing the same language task. You think you're tired at the end of a school day? Imagine if your brain had to work five times harder!
    
    
    
    
  • Vouchers Don't Help Disabled Students - About 77 percent of private schools taking tax dollars to educate disabled students don't offer special classes for disabled children. A Palm Beach Post examination of the 641 private schools taking McKay vouchers in Florida found that 496 reported on a state Department of Education form that they do not have classes "specifically designed to meet the needs of children with exceptionalities." At The Foundation Academy in Jacksonville, for example, about 70 of the school's 240 students use McKay vouchers, mostly for learning disabilities. But the school's teachers are not certified in Florida to teach special education -- they aren't Florida-certified to teach at all, although they do have college degrees.
    
    
  • Interim Report of the Bradford Youth Offending Team - For some 12 months the British Dyslexia Association has been working closely with Bradford Youth Offending Team to examine the issue of dyslexia amongst offenders. Low levels of literacy are well documented amongst offenders but we have found further evidence of a high incidence of dyslexia. We have delivered training to the Youth Offending Team and staff and developed interventions to support learning. The project is now entering its mainstreaming and dissemination phase.
    
    
  • Controversial Therapy Lacks Research Basis - A recent statement from the International Dyslexia Association (IDA) in response to a "60 Minutes II" TV item on dyslexia (USA, Wednesday, October 22) had heavily criticized the DDAT/Dore program of exercises for dyslexic children:
    
    The method of treatment or intervention promoted by Mr. Dore (repetitive physical activity, balancing exercises, etc.) is predicated on research that has been questioned by many neuroscientists (Zeffiro, Eden, Ivry, Justus, Snowling, Hulme, Singleton, and Stuart). Unfortunately, that reality was not shared with the viewing audience. Several studies from well-respected research institutions (Harvard, Yale, Georgetown, etc.) indicate that the dyslexic brain functions differently than the non-dyslexic brain. While there is growing acceptance that the cerebellum may play a greater role than previously thought in higher-level cognitive processes, there is surely no consensus in the scientific community that an intervention for dyslexia may yet be credibly based on cerebellar theories. It is IDA's position that interventions such as Mr. Dore's are simply not supported by current knowledge.
    
    
  • Mother queries dyslexic 'cure' - It has been heralded as a miracle cure for dyslexic children. The Dyslexia, Dyspraxia and Attention Deficit Disorder Treatment Centre (DDAT) claims 97% of kids see significant improvement after completing its courses, which can cost up to £1,500. The Midland company suggests that the condition can be beaten by simple balancing exercises - like catching bean-bags, walking downstairs backwards or standing on a wobble-board. But one mum who splashed out nearly £1,000 for a year-long course for her child says it was a waste of money. And now academic experts are raising doubts about the effectiveness of the controversial treatment. The multi-millionaire founder of DDAT, business boss Wynford Dore, has rubbished the criticism and says he has thousands of satisfied customers.
    
    
  • Controversial dyslexia treatment 'works' - A controversial, exercise-based treatment for dyslexia appears to deliver significant improvements, a study by UK scientists has concluded. The treatment regime involves physical exercises designed to improve functioning of the cerebellum. It has been taken up at Dyslexia, Dyspraxia and Attention Treatment (DDAT) Centres in the UK, US and Australia. (Nov 5th 02) New Scientist story.
    
    
  • NASA methods 'cure' dyslexia - Dyslexia in young children can be eradicated within the decade using physical exercises developed for astronauts by the US space administration NASA, some British specialists believe. However, any link between their exercises and dyslexia has been denied by NASA .
    The British Dyslexia Association issued a statement: ' In themselves these exercises seem simple, and claims are being made that children are making great progress. External researchers are investigating the results and the early signs seem to be interesting. However, it remains to be seen whether or not the improvements that are made actually ensure that progress is both made and maintained in areas of literacy, numeracy, memory and speed of processing. Over the course of years, a longitudinal study will prove one way or the other the success of the programme. If successful this type of provision could complement, but not replace, established educational provision that is currently in use in the classroom.'
    Dyslexia Teacher's advice is to be cautious about quick-fix, expensive solutions: a structured phonic-based program, along with one-on-one tuition has always proved to produce the best results.
    
    The UK Times Educational Supplement reports: 'Academics are challenging heavily publicised claims of a new “cure” for dyslexia that costs more than a thousand pounds. The controversy has been fuelled by the revelation of an alleged financial link between the professor researching the treatment and Wyndford Dore, the millionaire businessman providing it . . . Professor Maggie Snowling of York University said: “It is naïve to think that there is one cause of cerebellar immaturity and one treatment for correcting it would be effective for children with dyslexia, dyspraxia and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder as the centre claims.” Times Educational Supplement reports
    
    One concerned parent contacted the World of Dyslexia Discussion Board: "I have a son in the UK who is undertaking exercises run by the DDAT clinic in Manchester. . . He has been carrying out the exercises for a couple of months and there are signs that it is causing him emotional imbalance and leading to greater stress in terms of his organisational skills and timing issues. I know this programme has delivered some positive results but I am concerned that this current disruption is detrimental to his well being." (Responses from other parenents are welcme - our e-mail address is at the bottom of this page.)
    
    D is for dyslexia and diagnostic tests (TES March 1st 2002)
    DDAT Center, Kenilworth UK
    Times Educational Supplement Front Page
    
    
  • Wake Forest School of Medicine Develops Simple Test for Dyslexia - Researchers at the Wake Forest University School of Medicine have come up with a simple test that they think can identify dyslexics and help them find the right treatment. "We're not clinicians here but we try to sort of think outside the box," said Mark Wallace, an associate professor of neurobiology and anatomy. The experiment is simple. People sit down in front of a screen and a console with two keys. Two lights flash in quick succession while a subtle sound is conveyed through headphones. The subject pushes a button to indicate which light flashed first. The lights are flashed so quickly that people only get the correct answer 50 percent of the time when no sound is used. With the sound, performance improves. (Nov 2003)
    
    
  • Study Finds Gene Linked to Dyslexia - The first gene to be linked to the learning disorder dyslexia has been identified. Researchers found the gene by studying a family in Finland in which a father and his three children all had difficulty learning to read and write. The discovery could lead to a better understanding of the disability and ways to overcome it. The researchers said that although people who inherited a particular mutation in the gene were at increased risk of dyslexia, not everyone with the mutation would develop the disorder. (Aug 2003)
    
    
  • New typeface to help dyslexics - Dyslexics who have trouble reading words online and in print may soon find relief in a new typeface being developed by a Dutch designer. Unlike traditional typefaces, which re-use the same forms for multiple letters - such as b and d, or p and q - the 'Read Regular' typeface makes each letter significantly unique so that dyslexics can more easily distinguish one character from another. (Oct 2003)
    
    
  • Fatty acid deficiency signs predict the severity of reading and related problems in dyslexic children - academic article by John Stein and others publishing research evidence of the symptoms of fatty acid deficiency in dyslexic children, which are usually counteracted by giving children fish oil tablets daily.
    
    
    
    
  • 'TIME' magazine article on dyslexia (August 31st 2003) gives an excellent overview of dyslexia symptoms and recent research.The article points out that 'Boys and girls are equally likely to suffer from dyslexia' (as also emerged from Direct Learning's recent research: in a group of 100 randomly picked dyslexic children, there were 54 boys and 46 girls. It seems that the boys are noticed more often by teachers because of their behavior.)
    
    

  • Lexiphone Therapy - Dr Isi Beller, a French psychiatrist, has developed a new therapy for children with dyslexia. Children attend a center where they listen to exaggerated words and sounds - like babytalk - played through headphones while they play with Lego or draw. Attendance for an hour twice a week is required for fifty weeks, and the therapy is aimed at re-educating their brains' auditory pathways. Research has shown improvement in most children who took the therapy, though I would have thought that one on one tuition for the same period of time would also have produced substantial improvement . . .

    
    

  • Dyslexic children's brains operate more like those of normal readers following training designed to help them hear sounds in words.

    For the first time, researchers have shown that the brains of dyslexic children can be rewired -- after undergoing intensive remediation training -- to function more like those found in normal readers. The training program, which is designed to help dyslexics understand rapidly changing sounds that are the building blocks of language, helped the participants become better readers after just eight weeks.

    For the first time, researchers have shown that the brains of dyslexic children can be rewired -- after undergoing intensive remediation training -- to function more like those found in normal readers.

    The training program, which is designed to help dyslexics understand rapidly changing sounds that are the building blocks of language, helped the participants become better readers after just eight weeks.
    
    

  • Early speech difficulties may predict dyslexia - Based at the University of Copenhagen, Denmark, Professor Carsten Elbro has run an eight-year project following dyslexic children through their schooling. Whilst many of the findings supported other research, his group also discovered that young dyslexic children are not so good at pronouncing multi-syllabic words as their peers. In a game with puppets who could not quite get the word out, 4/6-year olds were encouraged to 'help' the puppet by saying the correct word. An example was the word 'crocodile': the puppet could only say "co-di", and the children called out the correct pronuniciation. It seems that the children who later turned out to have literacy difficulties were less good at saying 'crocodile' clearly. Carsten Enbro.
    
    
  • Fashionable 'cures' for dyslexia - York University (UK) dyslexia expert Professor Maggie Snowling advised caution regarding some of the much-publicized 'cures' for dyslexia, speaking at the Dyslexia Institute's London conference on November 23rd. She commented that taking fish oil impacted more on attention and behavior issues which only affect some dyslexic children. In any case, the 480 mg per day dose that has been used in experiments is equivalent to 8 capsules per day - a challenge for anyone not a dedicated hypochondriac! I guess it would help keep them afloat during swimming lessons! She went on to point out that tinted lenses prevent headaches in some dyslexic children who experience a glare from text on a white page, but do not offer a cure for difficulties with literacy. Similarly, the much-publicized balance exercises seem to improve reading speed but not necessarily reading accuracy. As far as I can see, the only effective treatment for dyslexia in children is a structured phonic program in a one-on-one situation, backed up by confidence-building. (John Bradford) Maggie Snowling.
    
    
  • Parents form dyslexic kids support group - Mary Russon of Lindon, Utah, is heading a group of frustrated parents of dyslexic children. Three parents were designated to voice their concerns before the board. The parents come from all over the Alpine School District and met on Sept.16 to discuss what they could do to consolidate information, support one another and organize themselves to work together to initiate change in the schools. Russon had spent the past six years seeking help for her daughter Kim, who is now 12. She met with Kim's teachers each year to ask that Kim be tested for dyslexia.
    
    
  • Dyslexia didn't hold back author - Cedric Hurtt is a published children's book author. His books sit on the shelves of local bookstores, candy for word hungry children. But not too long ago, he couldn't have read all of the words in his books. Hurtt always knew there was something wrong with the way he saw words. He knew that he often read the word "was" as "saw". He knew that he struggled, but he didn't know why.
    
    
  • Man sues school governors over failure to diagnose dyslexia (UK) - A man who claims his old school's failure to diagnose and deal with his dyslexia wrecked his education and employment prospects is suing for more than £400,000 in compensation. (Sep 9, 2002).
    
    
    
    
    
    
    
    
    
    
    
  • Exercises 'aid dyslexic pupils' - Children with dyslexia could be helped by the introduction of special movements and exercises into school sports lessons, research suggests. Special routines, designed to tap into reflexes from birth, lead to better co-ordination which in turn can improve reading and writing skills, according to psychologist Martin McPhillips. A charitable foundation, Primary Movement, has been set up - with a website - to handle queries about the exercise scheme.
    
    
    
    
    
  • Cause of Dyslexia on Chromosome 18 - A pre-school test to identify children with a predisposition to dyslexia might be possible in the future with the discovery of a genetic link to the disorder.A study of more than 200 families of children who are dyslexic has revealed that a region of chromosome 18 – one of the 23 pairs of human chromosomes – is strongly associated with the condition.
    Scientists from the Wellcome Trust Centre for Human Genetics in Oxford say that the biggest dyslexia study of its kind has identified what could turn out to be the most important gene involved in causing dyslexia.
    
    
    
    
    
    
  • Left handedness - Humans are not the only creatures to be left- or right-handed. Research by Bill Hopkins at the Yerkes Regional Primate Research Center in Atlanta has shown that, like humans, apes have hand preferences. Whereas about a tenth of humans are left-handed, around a third of chimpanzees are left hand dominant. This tendency is also greater in chimps who have more older siblings.
    
    
    
    
    
    
    
    
  • An Overview of current research in Dyslexia - article by Gavin Reid.
    
     
     

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