DYSLEXIC-CHILDREN LEARN A NEW VISUAL STRATEGY FOR READING - A CONTROLLED EXPERIMENT

Recent studies by Geiger, Lettvin and Zegarra-Moran have proposed a ne w non-reading test for the diagnosis of dyslexia, and a new method for remediation. The latter involves the learning of a ''visual strategy' '. On adult dyslexics the test was reliable and the remediation appare ntly effective. The purpose of this study is to confirm the usefulness of the remediation and test with children. Dyslexic children (3rd-6th grade) were divided into two groups. The experimental group (9) was g iven a new remedial regimen of practise. The control group (6) continu ed the remedial process given in their school. After 3 months of pract ising their separate regimens all the dyslexic children who were in th e two groups were retested and compared. The ''experimental'' dyslexic s improved in reading by 1.22 grade level on average while the ''contr ol'' dyslexics improved by 0.17 grade on average. The form-resolving f ield (FRF) plots narrowed significantly for the experimental dyslexics while they changed little for the control dyslexics. At the end of th e second testing the control dyslexics were also given the new regimen of practise. Five months later all the dyslexic children were tested for the third time. The initial control dyslexics who later practised the regimen (2) improved in reading by 22.5 grades and their FRF plot narrowed. The experimental dyslexics continued to improve yet further. All the dyslexic who practised the new regimen started at an average of 2.5 grades behind their expected grade/age level and after 8 months were at an average 0.75 grades behind their expected grade/age level. This is on average 1.75 grade level improvement in reading within 8 m onths, a rate of improvement larger than that of ordinary reading subj ects. The dyslexic children were compared with matched grade/age ordin ary reading children for reference. The study confirms the usefulness of the test and the applicability of the remediation method for childr en. It also shows that improvement under that method is quite rapid.