By the time Tianna Bailey reached the first grade,
she already had problems related to academics.
“Bad grades … and I remember being able to read
but not understand or even remember what I read,” Tianna
says.
But it was years later before Tianna was diagnosed with dyslexia.
Even now, after years of school and special tutoring, reading
still doesn’t come easy for her.
“I practice a lot with reading, just reading different
things and understanding,” Tianna says.
Now, using MRIs, Yale University researchers can photograph
the brains of dyslexic children while
they’re reading. The pictures show a defect in
the back of the brain, leading some scientists to theorize
new ways of tackling the learning disability.
“If you can get in there early enough, you can help
the other areas of the brain be retrained, just as a natural
course of learning to read, and avoid the dyslexia completely,”
says Dr. Joan Teach, who heads a school for students with
learning difficulties.
The idea is that while a child’s brain is still developing,
new connections can be formed,
bypassing the defective part. In other words, if we start
early and with the right kind of teaching, we may be able
to change – or rewire – a child’s brain.
“We know that there are changes that take place through
different kinds of educational experiences,” says Dr.
Martha Burdette, an expert in learning disabilities.
But the key is to catch the dyslexia early – by age
6. Your child may need special attention “if you notice
other youngsters are picking up sound and letter relationships
much quicker than your child is,” Dr. Teach says.
“If there is something intense that can catch children
at an early age with this disability, I think that would be
a great thing,” Tianna says.
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