¶ … Journal Behavioral Remediation sources. 2. A Critique a Journal Reading Remediation sources. I require reference number Journal Behavioral remediation critique

The article "Neural deficits in children with dyslexia ameliorated by behavioral remediation: Evidence from functional MRI" fuses information for teachers about how to structure their pedagogy with the knowledge scientists currently possess about the brain. This article examines attempts at remediation for developmental dyslexia, which is "characterized by unexplained difficulty in reading [and] is associated with behavioral deficits in phonological processing" (Temple et al. 2003). Children with dyslexia are intellectually capable of reading, and have the motivation and desire to learn to read. However, they are incapable of doing so because of their neurological wiring.

While once dyslexia was little-understood, and children with the disorder were often simply considered 'slow' or 'not bright' now there is a better understanding of why students with dyslexia cannot comprehend basic morphological structures of language. "Functional neuroimaging studies have shown a deficit in the neural mechanisms underlying phonological processing in children and adults with dyslexia" (Temple et al. 2003). Dyslexia is, quite literally, a brain disorder. Dyslexics experience difficulty in rhyming, syllable counting, word play, and sounding out pseudo-words.

Using behavioral remediation has been one technique to deal with individuals suffering from the disorder. The study chronicled in the article attempted to discern whether the technique could improve and rewire dysfunctional neural mechanisms in children with dyslexia. To test this, a functional MRI was performed on 20 children with dyslexia (8 -- 12 years old) "during phonological processing before and after a remediation program focused on auditory processing and oral language training" (Temple et al. 2003). The remediation program Fast ForWord Language was used for 100 min per day, 5 days per week, for an average of 27.9 days per subject. Examples of the seven exercises included in the computer package included "distinguishing between words that differ only by an initial or final consonant by identifying which of two pictures represents a target word" and other types of exercises that demand listening and reading...

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Based upon measured test skills, the techniques of behavior remediation improved student's measurable performance in both reading and oral language skills. Through the use of MRI techniques, researchers were also able to measure physiological alterations in the functioning of the children's brains. Increased activity was measured in the left temporo-parietal cortex and left inferior frontal gyrus, in right-hemisphere frontal and temporal regions and in the anterior cingulate gyrus and resembled non-dyslexic children's brains more closely. "Neural effects of remediation occurred both in brain areas that are normally involved in phonological processing (but dysfunctional in dyslexia) and other regions that are not normally activated during phonological processing," reflecting that the children's brains were also learning to compensate for existing deficits in a manner not characteristic of non-dyslexic brains (Temple et al. 2003).

PNAS articles such as these are useful for educators in that they demonstrate both how certain techniques work -- and also demonstrate why they work. Children receiving behavioral remediation do not become 'the same' as children without such disorders and are not 'cured,' but rather the brain compensates for deficits by strengthening functioning in other areas. MRIs also reduce the speculation as to how why certain techniques work or do not work -- another article in the journal discovered that, contrary to expectations that autistic children would show equal or even better visual search techniques, based upon the stronger spatial vs. verbal skills they possess, a study which specifically tested those skills found them to be poorer than their normal peers. But in this article, no brain scanning was conducted to determine why this was the case. Examining how the brain actually functions before, during, and after an intervention provides clearer evidence as to how techniques such as behavioral modification may work.

References

Pellicano, Elizabeth. (2010). Children with autism are neither systematic nor optimal foragers

PNAS, 108 (1) 421-426, Journal No: doi:10.1073/pnas.1014076108

Temple, Elise. (2003, et al.). Neural deficits in children with dyslexia ameliorated by behavioral remediation:…