Share this article

 Email

 Print

 

Republish this article

The text of this article by Futurity is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-No Derivatives License.

More
Science & Technology

This quick visual test predicts IQ

Citizen scientists tag bug collections online

‘Dynamo’ accounts for Sun’s weather cycle

Violent weather on Neptune, Uranus doesn’t run deep

Do bird brains trade songs for spatial skills?

Bendy nano-sensors detect infrared light

Fire ants could teach tunneling robots a few tricks

Biology can’t run on genes alone

Hear a heartbeat in space with this stethoscope

If a seven-year-old is breezing through the Harry Potter books, studies indicate that he or she will be a strong reader later in life. Conversely, if a seven-year-old is struggling with The Cat in the Hat, that child will most likely struggle with reading going forward.

The researchers scanned the brain anatomy of 39 children once a year for three consecutive years. The students then took standardized tests to gauge their cognitive, language, and reading skills.

In each case, the rate of development (measured by fractional anisotropy, or FA) in the white matter regions of the brain, which are associated with reading, accurately predicted their test scores.

Specifically, children with above-average reading skills exhibit an FA value in two types of nerve bundles—the left hemisphere arcuate fasciculus and the left hemisphere inferior longitudinal fasciculus—that is initially low, but increases over time. Children with lower reading skills initially have a high FA, but it declines over time.

The findings, which are published in the current issue of Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, could eventually influence reading lessons for pre-elementary children. Previous studies have shown that a child’s reading skills at age seven can accurately predict reading skills 10 years down the road. A child who is struggling at seven will most likely be a poor reader at age 17.

“By the time kids reach elementary school, we’re not great at finding ways of helping them catch up,” says Jason D. Yeatman, a doctoral candidate in psychology at Stanford and the lead author on the study.

The good news: Early screening could reveal which students are at risk; at an early age, the brain is plastic, and genes, environment, and experiences can affect FA values.

“Once we have an accurate model relating the maturation of the brain’s reading circuitry to children’s acquisition of reading skills, and once we understand which factors are beneficial, I really think it will be possible to develop early intervention protocols for children who are poor readers, and tailor individualized lesson plans to emphasize good development,” Yeatman says. “Over the next five to 10 years, that’s what we’re really hoping to do.”

Source: Stanford University