Oct. 6, 1999 Dyslexic children use nearly five times the brain
area as normal children while performing a simple language task,
according to a new study by an interdisciplinary team of
University of Washington researchers. The study shows for the
first time that there are chemical differences in the brain
function of dyslexic and non-dyslexic children. The research,
published in the current issue of the American Journal of
Neuroradiology, also provides new evidence that dyslexia is a
brain-based disorder. Dyslexia, a reading disorder, is the most
common learning disability, affecting an estimated 5 percent to
15 percent of children. The UW researchers, headed by
developmental neuropsychologist Virginia Berninger and
neurophysicist Todd Richards, used a novel noninvasive technique
called proton echo-planar spectroscopic imaging (PEPSI) to
explore the metabolic brain activity of six dyslexic and seven
non-dyslexic boys during oral language tasks. The researchers
used PEPSI to measure levels of brain lactate act