Brain Structure
May Affect
Reading Ability
Brain structure and hand preference may be as important as
environment in influencing a child's ability to learn to read, according to a
University of Florida Brain Institute study.
The seven-year study of 39 Alachua County students from
kindergarten to sixth grade indicates that while children from a lower socioeconomic
class may be at risk for reading failure, the detrimental effects of
environment are greatly increased in children with unusual brain asymmetry.
Students in the study were tested for tasks that are known
predictors of reading success, including the ability to rhyme, spell and
reverse the order of speech sounds. Using MRI scans, researchers also measured
the size of the temporal plane on both sides of the brain, an area believed to
play a role in language development.
Right-handed students whose left temporal plane was larger
than the right demonstrated superior reading skills when they came from an
average or high socioeconomic environment. Right-handed children with reversed
asymmetry were at risk for reading failure, especially if they came from a poor
family.
Most people are right-handed and have a larger temporal
plane in the left hemisphere of the brain, called left asymmetry. Left-handed
people are more likely to have a larger temporal plane in the right hemisphere
of the brain.
Leftward brain asymmetry was not an advantage in children
who did not have a strong right-hand preference. Left-handed children with left
asymmetry were at risk for reading failure.
Suggested Reading:
Improve Your Reading (Fifth
Edition)
by Ron Fry.
Info/Order this book.
This article was reprinted from the University of Florida Focus, University Of
Florida Alumni Association, PO Box 14425, Gainesville, Florida 32604-2425.
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