Hemisphere-specific treatment of dyslexia subtypes: better reading with anxiety-laden words?
Twenty children (12 boys, 8 girls; mean age = 10.4 years) with P-type dyslexia (accurate but slow and fragmented reading) and 20 children (12 boys, 8 girls; mean age = 10.3 years) with L-type dyslexia (hurried, inaccurate reading) were treated with visual hemisphere-specific stimulation employing the HEMSTIM computer program. Stimulation was produced by presenting words to the left (L-dyslexia) or to the right (P-dyslexia) visual field. Children in the control condition received treatment with neutral words, whereas children in the experimental condition received treatment with anxiety-laden words. After treatment, the children with L-dyslexia in the experimental group made fewer substantive errors and more fragmentations on a text-reading task than did the children with L-dyslexia in the control group. The results are explained as being the consequence of additional activation of the right hemisphere caused by the anxiety-laden words. It is concluded that children with L-dyslexia can benefit from the use of such words in the HEMSTIM program.
Free University, Amsterdam.
J W
JW
Van Strien
B D
BD
Stolk
S
S
Zuiker
D001007:Anxiety; D002648:Child; D003194:Computer-Assisted Instruction; D004292:Dominance, Cerebral; D004410:Dyslexia / Q000503:physiopathology / Q000628:therapy*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D011932:Reading; D014794:Visual Fields / Q000502:physiology*