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American Morning
Study Offers Hope for Children with Dyslexia
Aired February 25, 2003 - 08:44 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
PAULA ZAHN, CNN ANCHOR: Paging Dr. Gupta this morning about a study that offers some hope for children with dyslexia. The findings could help them develop normal reading skills.
Sanjay joins us now from CNN Center with details.
Good morning, Sanjay.
SANJAY GUPTA, CNN MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Paula.
Well, you know, I like the brain, and I certainly like technology and gadgets as well. With this story, it's a little bit about both those things, looking at dyslexic children, specifically 20 dyslexic children between the ages of 8 and 12, and trying to figure out answer a question about whether there are actual changes in the brain of dyslexic children, and whether those changes can actually be modified.
Take a look at some of these images. The images you'll be looking at is a functional MRI scan. Here's what a normal brain function -- look at the red areas, those sort of light up when people are asked to speak, actually make sounds, do exercises like rhyming. Take look at what happens in someone who actually has dyslexia. You can see from the circled areas now, those reddened areas from before not so hot anymore, not as much activity going on.
Now what happens, training exercise for eight weeks, focusing on speech and auditory sounds, and look what you have there -- this is the dyslexic brain function after the training. Paula, you actually see some of that function starting to come back. That's after eight weeks of intensive training, again, focusing on speech and auditory sounds, based on the philosophy that dyslexia might be based on the fact that it's trouble processing sounds. And if you can change that, not only can you change someone's ability to be able to actually read, speak, things like that, but also change some very fundamental things within the brain as well. So this is sort of a very interesting thing. They've been looking at this for quite some time. But that's some very concrete evidence both, again, that there are changes in the brain, and those changes can be modified -- Paula.
ZAHN: So will this lead to a widespread recommendation that kids should get this kind of therapy?
GUPTA: Well, I'll tell you what -- we've talked to researchers about this, and again, the bottom line being dyslexia for a long time has been this nebulous thing. What exactly is causing it? Is it a development disorder? Is it a biological disorder? Now you have more concrete evidence that actually shows there are changes in the brain. What this might mean is that there may be all sorts of different training programs out there. You and I have talked about several of them that exist. What are the ones that actually are providing the most concrete benefit to the brain in children who have dyslexia? You can actually measure that now. So some training may work better than others for certain children. But again, this is just after eight weeks, seeing some real concrete changes in the brain.
ZAHN: Now, do you think this same therapy would apply to adults?
GUPTA: That's a really interesting question. And a couple of things, a lot of the previous dyslexic research before some of these most recent studies were focused on adults, and they are seeing some of these same sort of changes in the adults as well. One thing just from a neurological standpoint is that children's brains tend to be more plastic, that is more modifiable, more likely to actually be able to undergo these changes. So it is possible, at least theoretically, that the children are going to benefit more, although the adults, a lot of people are convinced that the adults will benefit as well, and show these changes.
ZAHN: Sanjay Gupta, this is going to be really interesting to follow and offer some of the first hope for parents of children with dyslexia.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
Aired February 25, 2003 - 08:44 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
PAULA ZAHN, CNN ANCHOR: Paging Dr. Gupta this morning about a study that offers some hope for children with dyslexia. The findings could help them develop normal reading skills.
Sanjay joins us now from CNN Center with details.
Good morning, Sanjay.
SANJAY GUPTA, CNN MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Paula.
Well, you know, I like the brain, and I certainly like technology and gadgets as well. With this story, it's a little bit about both those things, looking at dyslexic children, specifically 20 dyslexic children between the ages of 8 and 12, and trying to figure out answer a question about whether there are actual changes in the brain of dyslexic children, and whether those changes can actually be modified.
Take a look at some of these images. The images you'll be looking at is a functional MRI scan. Here's what a normal brain function -- look at the red areas, those sort of light up when people are asked to speak, actually make sounds, do exercises like rhyming. Take look at what happens in someone who actually has dyslexia. You can see from the circled areas now, those reddened areas from before not so hot anymore, not as much activity going on.
Now what happens, training exercise for eight weeks, focusing on speech and auditory sounds, and look what you have there -- this is the dyslexic brain function after the training. Paula, you actually see some of that function starting to come back. That's after eight weeks of intensive training, again, focusing on speech and auditory sounds, based on the philosophy that dyslexia might be based on the fact that it's trouble processing sounds. And if you can change that, not only can you change someone's ability to be able to actually read, speak, things like that, but also change some very fundamental things within the brain as well. So this is sort of a very interesting thing. They've been looking at this for quite some time. But that's some very concrete evidence both, again, that there are changes in the brain, and those changes can be modified -- Paula.
ZAHN: So will this lead to a widespread recommendation that kids should get this kind of therapy?
GUPTA: Well, I'll tell you what -- we've talked to researchers about this, and again, the bottom line being dyslexia for a long time has been this nebulous thing. What exactly is causing it? Is it a development disorder? Is it a biological disorder? Now you have more concrete evidence that actually shows there are changes in the brain. What this might mean is that there may be all sorts of different training programs out there. You and I have talked about several of them that exist. What are the ones that actually are providing the most concrete benefit to the brain in children who have dyslexia? You can actually measure that now. So some training may work better than others for certain children. But again, this is just after eight weeks, seeing some real concrete changes in the brain.
ZAHN: Now, do you think this same therapy would apply to adults?
GUPTA: That's a really interesting question. And a couple of things, a lot of the previous dyslexic research before some of these most recent studies were focused on adults, and they are seeing some of these same sort of changes in the adults as well. One thing just from a neurological standpoint is that children's brains tend to be more plastic, that is more modifiable, more likely to actually be able to undergo these changes. So it is possible, at least theoretically, that the children are going to benefit more, although the adults, a lot of people are convinced that the adults will benefit as well, and show these changes.
ZAHN: Sanjay Gupta, this is going to be really interesting to follow and offer some of the first hope for parents of children with dyslexia.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
