Auditory recognition in dyslexics improves with visual and motor-visual practice

Abstract

Dyslexics differ from typical readers in visual and auditory perception. Dyslexics have wide and diffuse perceptual modes either in the visual or in the auditory domain and about 70% of them in both while those of typical readers are narrower in both domains. Would practicing a regimen of practice for remediation of dyslexia result in the modification and changes of the perceptual modes? After the initial psychometric testing, the auditory and visual perceptual modes of 16 Italian dyslexic children were characterized by measuring recognition of central and peripheral stimuli. The stimuli were pairs of letters, one in the center and the other in the periphery in vision and centrally uttered words in the cocktail-party effect in audition. Following, the dyslexic children were given a regimen of practice that included novel small-scale hand-eye coordination tasks and reading with a window-mask. After about six months and 30 minutes daily of practice, on average, the children were retested. The average reading scores showed significant improvements in most measures, there was a mild narrowing of the visual perceptual mode and surprisingly significant improvements of recognition of the centrally uttered words in the presence of speech mask. The recognition of the surrounding speech mask did not change much, hence the peripheral to central recognition ratio diminished, resulting in the narrowing of the auditory perceptual mode. The resulting improvement of the auditory perceptual mode as a consequence of visual and motor-visual practice suggests a multi-modal factor that is common to the visual and auditory perceptual mode. We suggest it to be attention.