Our Research

 

 


CLINICAL STUDIES NOW UNDER WAY!  YCDC is currently recruiting 10–16 yr. old children and adolescents to participate in two unique studies...
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IN DYSLEXICS, INTELLIGENCE LEVELS CAN SOAR EVEN IF READING IS LOW

First empirical evidence of validity of dyslexia as a
disparity between cognitive ability and reading.

 

Data indicate that in typical readers, beginning very early (age 6 years), intelligence and reading achievement influence one another and are closely linked over development.  In contrast, dyslexic individuals, from this early age, demonstrate a disengagement of intelligence and reading, so that one does not have the dynamic relationship with the other.  In those who are dyslexic, intelligence and reading follow two separate and different trajectories.  This evidence of the intra-individual difference found in dyslexic readers but not in typical readers provides compelling evidence that dyslexic students’ reading should be compared to their ability and not to the “average” person in determinations of eligibility for services and accommodations.

In Press, Psychological Science.

NEURAL SYSTEMS IN DYSLEXICS MORE TUNED TO MEMORY THAN TO SOUND

 

Development of reading systems differs in dyslexic and non-impaired readers.  In typical readers, the development occurs in the skilled reading (anterior-lateral left, occipito-temporal) word-form region.  In contrast, in dyslexic readers, a system more tuned to memory develops in the posterior-medial occipito-temporal region.  These systems have a commonality with the systems reported for two Japanese writing systems:  Kana (a sound-based system) and Kanji, (a memory-based system).  So, dyslexic readers develop the system used in reading in Kanji and typical readers develop a system used in reading Kana.  This finding explains reading strategies relied on by dyslexic readers and may offer insight into possible approaches to intervention.

Published Annals of Neurology, April 2007

STUDY DEMONSTRATES WHY BRIGHT
DYSLEXICS REQUIRE MORE TIME

 

First demonstration that the neural signature for dyslexia is observed not only in readers who are inaccurate, but importantly, also in those readers who compensate so that they are accurate but remain non-fluent readers. This group of relatively accurate, but non-fluent, readers represents the majority of bright dyslexic readers who will apply to colleges, graduate, and professional schools.  This is the first time that this specific group of dyslexic readers has demonstrated a neural signature for their more circumscribed difficulties affecting primarily fluency, and not necessarily reading accuracy.  This demonstration provides powerful evidence of why bright dyslexic students applying for accommodations on high-stakes exams require additional time, although their reading accuracy may be in the so-called “normal” range.

Paper in preparation

NEW AND ONGOING RESEARCH

 

  1. Determination of the early predictors and the long-term outcome of dyslexia at mature adulthood.  Long-term outcome is assessed in multiple domains, including educational attainment; labor force participation; occupational category; earnings; behavioral adjustment; civic participation/social integration; literacy practices; subjective well-being; sociodemographic status; health; global life satisfaction and well being; quality of life; and impact of literacy on health (QALYS).
  2. Examination of adult low literacy:  prevalence, consequences, and early predictors.
  3. Examination of adult reading disability:  prevalence, consequences and early predictors.
  4. Examination of the stability of reading and reading disability over time, and influences on the course of development of reading.
  5. Clarifying the relationship between measures of reading disability and measures of literacy—to address the overriding question of what is the relationship between reading and reading disability in children on the one hand, and literacy and low literacy in adults on the other.
  6. Examination of the neural imprint of dyslexia in mature adults:  characterize brain mechanisms and brain-behavior relationships underlying the developing of typical readers, compensated readers, and persistently poor readers.
  7. Determination of the chronometry and neural systems for reading in adolescents who are typical readers and those who are dyslexic.
  8. Utilization of pharmacological probes of neurotransmitters in dyslexia and ADHD (Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder).
  9. Examination of the neural basis of noradrenergic stimulation in dyslexia and in ADHD.
  10. Evaluation of the long-term power of high-stakes tests, such as the SAT, LSAT, MCAT and GMAT, to predict real-life adult outcome.
  11. Determination of the adult outcome of dyslexic students at Yale five and more years following graduation.
Copyright 2008, The Yale Center for Dyslexia & Creativity • Yale School of  Medicine