Brain scans can identify neural structures associated with poor reading skills in young children and help develop a system of measures to prevent the plight of individual students.
If a seven-year-old child easily swallows Harry Potter books, the researchers claim that he or she will have powerful reading skills in the future. And vice versa, if a seven-year-old child can hardly master the story of a cat in boots, then most likely the struggle with reading will continue in the future.
Researchers scanned the brain structure of 39 children once a year for three consecutive years. Students then passed standardized tests to assess their cognitive, language, and reading skills.
In each case, the development rate (measured by fractional anisotropy, or FA) of the areas of the white matter of the brain that are associated with reading accurately predicted the test results.
In particular, children with an increased level of reading skills exhibit FA significance in two types of nerve bundles - the arched bundle of the left hemisphere and the lower longitudinal bundle of the left hemisphere. This value is initially low, but it increases over time. Children with low reading skills initially have a high FA value, but it decreases over time.
Over time, the results of the study may affect the teaching of reading to young children. At an early age, the brain is plastic. Genes, the environment, and impressions can affect the rate of development of white matter.
