How the Brain Learns to Ready by David A. Sousa- Chapter 5

This blog post will discuss chapter 5 in How the Brain Learns to Read by David A. Sousa. Chapter five deals with recognizing reading problems. This chapter was very interesting to me since I work with striving readers every day. We easily see the struggles of students with reading problems. This chapter sheds light on some of the reasons readers struggle.

One thing to keep in mind is the fact that "decoding written text is a wholly artificial creation that calls upon neural regions designed for other tasks." (p. 122) Reading occurs when many different parts of the brain work together complete the task of reading.

• "In some children, the problems occur during early brain development and affect their ability to process the sounds of language and, eventually, to decode written text. This development deficit appears to be the most common cause of reading difficulties, and usually results in a lifelong struggle with reading." (p. 123)

Dyslexia is reading problem that has gained attention in Missouri schools recently.

• "In developmental dyslexia, the child experiences unexpected difficulty in learning to read despite adequate intelligence, environment, and normal senses. It is a spectrum disorder, varying from mild to severe, that has a genetic component." (p. 123)
• ..."there are significant differences in the way normal and dyslexic brains respond to specific spoken and written language tasks." (p. 123)

There are several potential linguistic causes of reading problems and developmental dyslexia.

Phonological Deficits-  "Phonological information is used by the working memory to integrate and comprehend words in phrases and sentences. Numerous studies continue to show that phonological operations are impaired in many dyslexics, but not all." (p. 124)

Differences in Auditory and Visual Processing Speeds- Some studies have noted "abnormal auditory activation but normal visual activation during reading". (p. 124) "To read successfully the visual and auditory process systems have to work together."

Structural Differences in the Brain- "Most children with developmental dyslexia have visual analysis and phonological decoding areas of the brain that are insufficiently active and dysfunctional". (p 126)

Phonological Memory Deficits- Some studies have shown that weak phonological memory among dyslexic readers.

Developmental dyslexia is complex and may be caused by many factors. One important thing to keep in mind is that "dyslexia is a lifelong condition and not just a phase." (p. 127)