Methodological Issues in Neuroimaging studies of Skilled Reading and Reading Disability: Establishing brain/behavior links.

Summary

Kenneth R. Pugh, Department of Pediatrics (Neurology), Yale University School of Medicine and Haskins Laboratories, New Haven CT. 06511

�������� Our research combines neurobiological techniques (brain imaging) with intensive behavioral testing in order to examine developmental trajectories for language and reading in both reading disabled (RD) and non-impaired (NI) children. In studies of both adults and children, RD readers demonstrate anomalous brain activation patterns at posterior regions in the left hemisphere (LH) during tasks that make explicit demands on phonological processing, along with, what appears to be, a compensatory reliance on frontal lobe sites and right hemisphere systems. In a large developmental study of children at different ages and reading levels brain/behavior analyses revealed that the development of� reading fluency is strongly associated with the development of the left hemisphere posterior reading system. Finally, a recently completed intervention study examined the influence of intensive phonological remediation in RD children, revealing substantial gains in both reading performance and a corresponding development of the LH posterior reading system for children afforded this treatment. We also consider how these neurobiological techniques might be used in helping us to identify those children, at earlier stages of development, at high risk for later reading difficulties.