'Jump start' boost for dyslexics

DYSLEXIC children can be "jump-started" with a three-week instructional course aimed at helping them use the same parts of their brains as normal readers, scientists said today.

DYSLEXIC children can be "jump-started" with a three-week instructional course aimed at helping them use the same parts of their brains as normal readers, scientists said today.

Scans showed that the carefully-focused teaching method caused relatively inactive brain regions to "wake-up".

As a result, the children began to display the same abilities as individuals who have no trouble reading.

Professor Virginia Berninger, who led the research at the University of Washington in Seattle, USA, said the brain coded words by their sound, or phonology, the parts of words that signal meaning and grammar, and their visual or written form.

She said: "The brain uses three neural circuits to code words in three forms, not just meaning.

"The teaching that gave dyslexic brains the jump-start was unique in that it made every aspect of reading words explicit. It drew attention to the sound form, the meaning form, and the written form of words, and showed how to interrelate them.

"While many debate whether phonics or meaning-based instruction is more effective, we found an effective way to treat dyslexia is to show how letters, sounds and meaning are interrelated."