Dyslexia May Be the Brain Struggling to Adapt

[Judi Lynn]

The learning disorder may be less a problem with language processing, and more a problem with the brain rewiring itself

By Ben Panko
smithsonian.com
2 hours ago

For a lump of fat, the human brain is surprisingly flexible. As you learn new words, skills or patterns, your brain adapts to access that information more easily by making new or strengthened connections between neurons. By practicing piano or studying math, you are paving these pathways that allow you to recall what you learned quickly and sometimes even unconsciously. The brain’s remarkable ability to rewire itself throughout a person's life is known as plasticity—and neuroscientists consider it an invaluable cognitive asset.

Yet some people have more of this trait than others, which can have profound effects on their learning abilities. Now, it appears that individuals with dyslexia exhibit far less plasticity in their brains than those without, researchers report this week in the journal Neuron. By using MRI scans to observe the brains of people with and without dyslexia as they completed learning tasks, the researchers have pinpointed how the rigidity of dyslexic brains may be behind the reading difficulties that are often caused by the disorder.

Though the disorder can take many forms, dyslexic people generally struggle with reading comprehension and other tasks related to processing language, such as memorization or learning a foreign language. Scientists have long suspected that dyslexia may be due to a problem in the brain’s language processing centers. But after a century of probing the world's most common learning disability—which affects at least one in 10 people worldwide—researchers are still mostly in the dark about the mechanisms behind it.

To shed light on how the dyslexic brain learns, a team of researchers led by MIT neuroscientist John Gabrieli decided to look beyond language processing. Instead, Gabrieli’s team put dozens of adults and children as young as 6 years old in MRI machines and had them listen to speech, read words and look at different objects and faces while doing tasks requiring them to think about what they were seeing or hearing. The experimenters repeatedly exposed all participants to the same words or faces or objects while measuring how their brains responded to this stimuli; about half had dyslexia, and half did not.

Read more: http://www.smithsonianmag.com/science-nature/dyslexia-may-be-brain-struggling-adapt-180961559/#qaAwLbEOw19RoAjA.99

[HassleCat]

1. I have a little problem that way

But it only pops up when I try to think about Tresidump Prunt.

[Siwsan]

2. Interesting

I have it, to a degree. I've learned to compensate, with the language part. If a word sequence or placement doesn't make sense, I stop and re-read it until it does.

It's the numeric aspect that kills me. Unfortunately, when I transpose numbers, well, there's just to way to know until it is too late. When I have to calculate ANYTHING, I habitually do it until I get the same answer at least three times. Needless to say, I have always really sucked at math.

[pansypoo53219]

3. NO MATH! minor dyslexia, read to as a kid seems to have helped. i just read slow.

but good for memory. reading helps. issues w/ + & - more. some fonts evil.