MORE NEWS ITEMS <Part 3>

News:

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• Schools Can't Tackle Nicola's dyslexia - A disability rights campaigner says he was forced to pull his 12-year-old daughter out of school because of the "pathetic" levels of care provided for dyslexic children in Gloucester, UK.
  
  
• Early speech difficulties may predict dyslexia - Based at the University of Copenhagen, Denmark, Professor Carsten Elbro has run an eight-year project following dyslexic children through their schooling. Whilst many of the findings supported other research, his group also discovered that young dyslexic children are not so good at pronouncing multi-syllabic words as their peers. In a game with puppets who could not quite get the word out, 4/6-year olds were encouraged to 'help' the puppet by saying the correct word. An example was the word 'crocodile': the puppet could only say "co-di", and the children called out the correct pronuniciation. It seems that the children who later turned out to have literacy difficulties were less good at saying 'crocodile' clearly.
  
  
• Fashionable 'cures' for dyslexia - York University (UK) dyslexia expert Professor Maggie Snowling advised caution regarding some of the much-publicized 'cures' for dyslexia, speaking at the Dyslexia Institute's London conference. She commented that taking fish oil impacted more on attention and behavior issues which only affect some dyslexic children. In any case, the 480 mg per day dose that has been used in experiments is equivalent to eight capsules per day - a challenge for anyone not a dedicated hypochondriac! I guess it would help keep them afloat during swimming lessons! She went on to point out that tinted lenses prevent headaches in some dyslexic children who experience a glare from text on a white page, but do not offer a cure for difficulties with literacy. Similarly, the much-publicized balance exercises seem to improve reading speed but not necessarily reading accuracy. As far as I can see, the only effective treatment for dyslexia in children is a structured phonic program in a one-on-one situation, backed up by confidence-building. (John Bradford)
  
  
• Breath test for dyslexia' - A simple breath test could identify children with dyslexia, attention deficit disorder and behavioral problems before they start school and ensure they are given essential nutrients to feed the brain.

  This method of biochemical testing can identify children who are deficient in the Omega 3 essential fatty acids EPA and DHA that are needed by the brain and lacking in today's junk-food diet. The test is non-invasive, and so simple that it can be done on pre-schoolchildren. All a child has to do is to put his mouth around a disposable tube and blow out a single breath for as long as he can.
  
  By measuring the amount of ethane, the breakdown product of Omega 3, the test can show which children and adults could benefit from Omega 3 and Omega 6 supplements - high-grade fish oil and evening primrose.
  
  The test, developed by Marion Ross at the Highland Psychiatric Research Foundation, was used on school children for the first time this year in a large-scale study in Co. Durham UK carried out by the Dyslexic Research Trust and the local education authority.
  
  

• Parents form dyslexic kids support group - Mary Russon of Lindon, Utah, is heading a group of frustrated parents of dyslexic children. Three parents were designated to voice their concerns before the board. The parents come from all over the Alpine School District and met on Sept.16 to discuss what they could do to consolidate information, support one another and organize themselves to work together to initiate change in the schools. Russon had spent the past six years seeking help for her daughter Kim, who is now 12. She met with Kim's teachers each year to ask that Kim be tested for dyslexia.
  
  
• Dyslexia didn't hold back author - Cedric Hurtt is a published children's book author. His books sit on the shelves of local bookstores, candy for word hungry children. But not too long ago, he couldn't have read all of the words in his books. Hurtt always knew there was something wrong with the way he saw words. He knew that he often read the word "was" as "saw". He knew that he struggled, but he didn't know why.
  
  
• Man sues school governors over failure to diagnose dyslexia (UK) - A man who claims his old school's failure to diagnose and deal with his dyslexia wrecked his education and employment prospects is suing for more than £400,000 in compensation.
  
  
  
  
• Boy's dyslexia spotted days before exams - A boy who desperately struggled with lessons during his entire school life was told he was dyslexic, just four days before his vital GCSE exams.
  
  
  
  
  
• Exercises 'aid dyslexic pupils' - Children with dyslexia could be helped by the introduction of special movements and exercises into school sports lessons, research suggests. Special routines, designed to tap into reflexes from birth, lead to better co-ordination which in turn can improve reading and writing skills, according to psychologist Martin McPhillips. A charitable foundation, Primary Movement, has been set up - with a website - to handle queries about the exercise scheme.
  
  
  
  
  
• Dyslexia and Blood Pressure - Many dyslexic children come from families with a history of lower blood pressure - adding weight to theories of a common cause of the disorder. One possibility is that dyslexics have too much of a particular body chemical called phospholipid platelet activating factor (PAF) Blood vessel function.
  
  
• Cause of Dyslexia on Chromosome 18 - A pre-school test to identify children with a predisposition to dyslexia might be possible in the future with the discovery of a genetic link to the disorder.A study of more than 200 families of children who are dyslexic has revealed that a region of chromosome 18 – one of the 23 pairs of human chromosomes – is strongly associated with the condition.
  Scientists from the Wellcome Trust Centre for Human Genetics in Oxford say that the biggest dyslexia study of its kind has identified what could turn out to be the most important gene involved in causing dyslexia.
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
• Left handedness - Humans are not the only creatures to be left- or right-handed. Research by Bill Hopkins at the Yerkes Regional Primate Research Center in Atlanta has shown that, like humans, apes have hand preferences. Whereas about a tenth of humans are left-handed, around a third of chimpanzees are left hand dominant. This tendency is also greater in chimps who have more older siblings.
  
  
  
  
  
• New Insight into Why Learning Disorders are Genetic - Scientists analyzing new images of the brain have discovered that structures used in language processing are strongly influenced by genetics. This begins to explain why learning disorders such as dyslexia and autism can run in families. The same study also revealed that the volume of gray matter is strongly linked with intelligence.
  
  
  
  
• Dyslexia Teatment Center Offers Children a Free Hand Up - Inspiring report about the the Tennessee Center for the Study and Treatment of Dyslexia, which helps get the proper services for dyslexic children in the Madison County school system.
  
  
  
  
  
  
• Mother Sacrifices all for Daughter's Literacy - Karen Hetmanski has a high school diploma, but her life has been a series of low-paying jobs and disappointments. At 37, she reads like a third-grader.
  The Millers Island woman has launched a crusade - there really is no other word for it - to keep the same thing from happening to her daughter, Amanda Watts. Amanda, who will be 13 next month, can barely read.
  "Education is very important to me, because I don't have an education," said the jobless Hetmanski, who has spent thousands of dollars on her cause and put her house up for sale. "That's why I am fighting so hard."
  
  
• Dyslexia and Gender - Most people are very careful to avoid preferential treatment for students based on gender, but new research suggests boys may need special attention to cope with a higher prevalence of reading disabilities.

  The findings, which appear in today's issue of the Mayo Clinic Proceedings, are part of a large study that examined the reading skills of 5,718 children born in Rochester, Minn., between 1976 and 1982 who remained in the area after the age of 5.

  The researchers found that boys were two to three times more likely to suffer from dyslexia than girls.
  
  

• Helping Dyslexics in the Blink of an Eye -

  State-of-the-art warplane cockpit systems that allow pilots to aim missiles with their eyes are being adapted by defence researchers and Oxford University scientists to help diagnose dyslexia by measuring whether children's eyes work properly when they read.

  The diagnosis kit - designed to measure "eye wobble", one of the key components of dyslexia - uses two tiny video cameras fixed to a pair of spectacle frames. These contain reflective glass, like that used in one-way mirrors. When children put on the glasses and look towards a fixed point or a moving target, the cameras film their eye movements, which are measured with infrared light reflected by the glass.

  A computer link then shows whether the child's eyes are fixing and tracking steadily, or whether they wobble. (The Sunday Times)

  

• Trouble with Numbers

  It is estimated that dyscalculia - difficulty with numbers - afflicts between 3% and 6% of the population, based on the proportion of children who have special difficulty with maths despite good performance in other subjects.
  
  Often it is associated with dyslexia - word difficulty - but experts say the practical effects are even worse: Inability to work out change in a shop, tell the time, or even find your way around.
  
  

• Pupils Share Dyslexic's Victory - Roger Essley, dyslexic writer and artist, now has his work in the Metropolitan Museum in New York City, but he was 40 years old before he submitted his first children's book. (MaineToday/Kennebec Journal)
  
  
  
  
  
  

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