title: High acceptance of an early dyslexia screening test involving genetic analyses in Germany.
abstract: Dyslexia is a developmental disorder characterized by severe problems in the acquisition of reading and writing skills. It has a strong neurobiological basis. Genetic influence is estimated at 50-70%. One of the central problems with dyslexia is its late diagnosis, normally not before the end of the 2nd grade, resulting in the loss of several years for early therapy. Currently, research is focusing on the development of early tests for dyslexia, which may be based on EEG and genetics. Our aim was to determine the acceptance of such a future test among parents. We conducted a representative survey in Germany with 1000 parents of children aged 3-7 years, with and without experience of dyslexia. 88.7% of the parents supported the introduction of an early test for dyslexia based on EEG and genetics; 82.8% would have their own children tested, and 57.9% were willing to pay for the test if health insurance did not cover the costs. Test acceptance was significantly higher if parents had prior experience with dyslexia. The perceived benefits of such a test were early recognition and remediation and, preventing deficits. Concerns regarded the precision of the test, its potentially stigmatizing effect and its costs. The high overall support for the test leads to the conclusion that parents would accept a test for dyslexia based on EEG and genetics.
authors.affiliation: Department of Cell Therapy, Fraunhofer Institute for Cell Therapy and Immunology (IZI), Leipzig, Germany.|Translational Centre for Regenerative Medicine (TRM), Universität Leipzig, Leipzig, Germany.
authors.forename: Arndt
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Wilcke
authors.affiliation: Department of Cell Therapy, Fraunhofer Institute for Cell Therapy and Immunology (IZI), Leipzig, Germany.
authors.forename: Bent
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Müller
authors.affiliation: Department of Neuropsychology, Max Planck Institute for Human Cognitive and Brain Sciences, Leipzig, Germany.|Department of Psychology, Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, Berlin, Germany.
authors.forename: Gesa
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Schaadt
authors.affiliation: Department of Cell Therapy, Fraunhofer Institute for Cell Therapy and Immunology (IZI), Leipzig, Germany.|Translational Centre for Regenerative Medicine (TRM), Universität Leipzig, Leipzig, Germany.|Institute for Medical Informatics, Statistics and Epidemiology (IMISE), Faculty of Medicine, Universität Leipzig, Leipzig, Germany.|LIFE (Leipzig Interdisciplinary Research Cluster of Genetic Factors, Phenotypes and Environment), Faculty of Medicine, Universität Leipzig, Leipzig, Germany.
authors.forename: Holger
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Kirsten
authors.affiliation: Department of Cell Therapy, Fraunhofer Institute for Cell Therapy and Immunology (IZI), Leipzig, Germany.|Translational Centre for Regenerative Medicine (TRM), Universität Leipzig, Leipzig, Germany.|Stroke and Neurovascular Regulation Laboratory, Massachusetts General Hospital and Harvard Medical School, Charlestown, MA, USA.
authors.forename: Johannes
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Boltze
mesh_terms: D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D004410:Dyslexia / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000235:genetics; D004569:Electroencephalography; D005260:Female; D005820:Genetic Testing; D005858:Germany / Q000453:epidemiology; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D010290:Parents; D010700:Phonetics; D011932:Reading