Abstract
Previous fMRI studies in English-speaking samples suggested that specific interventions may alter brain function in language-relevant networks in children with reading and spelling difficulties, but this research strongly focused on reading impaired individuals. Only few studies so far investigated characteristics of brain activation associated with poor spelling ability and whether a specific spelling intervention may also be associated with distinct changes in brain activity patterns. We here investigated such effects of a morpheme-based spelling intervention on brain function in 20 children with comparatively poor spelling and reading abilities using repeated fMRI. Relative to 10 matched controls, children with comparatively poor spelling and reading abilities showed increased activation in frontal medial and right hemispheric regions and decreased activation in left occipito-temporal regions prior to the intervention, during processing of a lexical decision task. After five weeks of intervention, spelling and reading comprehension significantly improved in the training group, along with increased activation in the left temporal, parahippocampal and hippocampal regions. Conversely, the waiting group showed increases in right posterior regions. Our findings could indicate an increased left temporal activation associated with the recollection of the new learnt morpheme-based strategy related to successful training.
Highlights
According to the ICD 10 definition [1], spelling and reading impairment is diagnosed if reading and spelling skills are located two standard deviations below the level that might be expected based on general intelligence, age and education
(b), we investigated whether spelling skills and brain activation can be modulated by a specific spelling intervention, comparing two groups of poor spellers
To test our first hypothesis, we looked for group differences (TG, WG and control group (CG)) prior to the intervention
Summary
According to the ICD 10 definition [1], spelling and reading impairment (dyslexia; F 81.0) is diagnosed if reading and spelling skills are located two standard deviations below the level that might be expected based on general intelligence, age and education. Reading difficulties, including dyslexia, occur as the lower part of a continuum for reading ability that includes nonimpaired as well as disabled readers [2,3]. In this study we conceptualize spelling and reading ability as a continuum ranging from lower to higher abilities, rather than relying on categorical definitions such as ‘‘dyslexic’’ or ‘‘spelling impaired’’ children. In defining our experimental groups, we chose children exhibiting a comparatively poor performance level on this ability continuum. Discoveries about poor spelling and reading abilities may offer insights into mechanisms of normal reading acquisition and dyslexia [3]
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