Diminishing Dyslexia With Auditory Training

Diminishing dyslexia is possible through auditory integration training and neurocognitive training.

Dyslexia is “a specific learning disability that is neurobiological in origin. It is characterized by difficulties with accurate and/or fluent word recognition and by poor spelling and decoding abilities. These difficulties typically result from a deficit in the phonological component of language that is often unexpected in relation to other cognitive abilities and the provision of effective classroom instruction. Secondary consequences may include problems in reading comprehension and reduced reading experience that can impede the growth of vocabulary and background knowledge.”  (International Dyslexia Association) (https://dyslexiaida.org/definition-of-dyslexia/) 

Is Dyslexia Affecting You?

An insightful report, your Moore Auditory-Visual Questionnaire Report, shares the intensity of behavioral difficulties related to specific areas of concern.

Need Help?

Cheri Moore helps children and adults improve their ability to respond and maintain progress after auditory integration training using medically-based testing to guide intervention.

|

“Cheri Moore is a huge advocate for students with processing challenges. She has an intense desire to bring improvements to students and is tireless in seeking out the information and therapies to bring results. She demonstrates great caring and generosity in seeking solutions for students.”

Margaret McLewin, Homeschool Plus Director, Piano & Voice Teacher

Dyslexia Is Not Outgrown

According to an MRI study, individuals do not outgrow dyslexia. Thus, adults who struggled to read as children, still struggle as adults (Ahissar, Protopapas, Reid & Merzenich, 2000). According to a national survey conducted by the Center for Disease Control and Prevention, in 2013,  4.9 million children in the United States have a learning disability, ages 3-17 years.

The most common learning disability, dyslexia, affects approximately five to ten percent of children attending school (Handler, Fierson, 2011; Cardon, et al., 1994).  Astonishingly, that is 25,000 to 50,000 children.  Amazingly, there are no auditory and visual screenings for children with learning disabilities. In fact, schools provide no educational information. Because, auditory and visual processing difficulties are medical conditions. Frustratingly, insurance companies rarely cover vision therapy and auditory integration training. Consequently, low-income families are unable to afford life-changing intervention. Nevertheless, Cheri is working with the hope that one day all children with learning disabilities will have access to vision therapy and auditory integration training.

Emotional Distress

The Moore in Sync Blog Section, Purposeful Play, shares ways to decrease stress through play like playdough, clay, and pottery.

Due to auditory and visual processing difficulties, students with dyslexia struggle to learn. Most concerning, individuals with dyslexia strongly feel the constant stress of working hard to compensate for auditory and visual difficulties.  Thus, it is very important to teach struggling learners helpful ways to relieve stress.

girl patting the gluten free playdoh

Intervention, like auditory integration training and vision therapy, improve a person’s ability to work at their level of intelligence. The higher the intelligence, the better an individual figures out how to compensate. However, each person copes in different ways.

For example, distorted sounds make it difficult to understand and join group conversations. Therefore, individuals with dyslexia are at an increased risk of misunderstanding what is heard. This can cause embarrassment. Depending on personality, the person may cope by avoiding group conversations. In contrast, a person may take over the conversation doing most of the talking. For individuals with auditory processing difficulties, speaking is typically easier than listening.

Additional difficulties are:

  • Short-term memory difficulties
  • Thinks out loud, sometimes misinterpreted as bossy
  • Says words incorrectly
  • Spelling reversals and writing letters backward
  • Misunderstands

Diminishing Dyslexia with Auditory Integration Training

After Auditory Integration Training, clients gradually experience improved sound tolerance. As the auditory system strengthens, clients of all ages benefit from auditory neurocognitive training.

About a year after auditory integration training with vision therapy, clients experienced improved academic performance. Also, additional improvements are seen in expressive speech, self-esteem, and socialization in school and out of school.

Even when there is a genetic or a neurodevelopmental diagnosis, there is hope. Direct intervention like auditory integration training and vision therapy decreases learning difficulties and improves emotional health.

Visual Processing Difficulties Found in  Students with Dyslexia

Thus far, all clients also have visual processing difficulties with or without sound intolerance. Overall, numerous studies found a higher rate of visual processing difficulties in students with a diagnosis of dyslexia when compared to typically developing students.

Over a third of 121 students, 41 students with 20/20 vision and receiving special education services for reading difficulties, were found to have reduced ability to use both eyes together to keep print single and clear (Christain, L., Hrynchak, P., Irving, E., Nandakumar, K., Feb. 2018)

In a study completed by Grisham (1986), fifty percent of children with reading disabilities experienced difficulties with Visual Processing Dysfunctions (VPD). When compared to students without reading difficulties, the visual processing difficulty most often found were difficulties using both eyes together to look at a target. Technically, convergence insufficiency is reduced ability to keep vision clear and single while looking at a target. Thus, objects and letters blurred and doubled while trying to focus on the target. Consequently, visual processing difficulties interfere with reading comprehension. Because the brain is too busy keeping vision clear.

Raghuram, A., et.al. (2018) found a significantly higher percentage (79%) of visual processing deficits (vergence, accommodation, ocular motor tracking) in 29 children diagnosed with dyslexia when compared to 33% of 33 children without a diagnosis (Retrieved from https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/30027208). 

infant looking to far left with an awe expression on face. Infant's visual processing develops one milestone at a time.

The infant’s eyes are turned towards a sound, an auditory-visual skill. From birth through childhood, auditory and visual skills develop sequentially resulting in instinctive movements.

When there are food allergies, food sensitivities, or chronic congestion, decreased sound stimulation to the hearing system increases the risk for developmental delays. Each milestone of development occurs within certain timeframes. When something interrupts development, direct intervention and purposeful play teach those skills. There is hope.

MRI Study Found Auditory and Visual Underactivity

Using magnetoencephalographic imaging (MRI Scans), researchers assessed auditory processing and visual processing skills in participants with Dyslexia and a control norm group.

MRI Studies

1. Using MRI scans from participants diagnosed with dyslexia, scans are compared to the norm group. Suprisingly, researchers found deficits in both the auditory processing system and visual processing system. (Blau V., Atteveldt, N., Ekkebus, M., Goebel, R., Blomert, L., 2009)

2. In 2009,researchers found decreased neural activity in the brain’s hetermodal superior temporal sulcus and gyrus when presented with “congruent sounds” (recognized sound-letter combinations) and “incongruent sounds” (non-recognized sound-letter combinations). Findings provided an explanation of 2004 research findings. Blau, et. al. (2009)

3. In 2004, researchers found through MRI scans that reading and spelling activate parts of the brain associated with integrating auditory and visual processing skills. (Van Atteveldt, N., Formisano, E., Goebel, R., Blomert, L., 2004)

4. In 1999, MRI scans of the auditory cortex provide evidence that struggling readers suffer from auditory processing deficits during “brief and rapidly successive inputs” of speech. Consequently, listening to self and others causes unclear phonetic pronunciation (Nagarajan, Mahncke, Salz, Tallal, Roberts & Merzenich, 1999).

Resources

Christain, L., Hrynchak, P., Irving, E., Nandakumar, K. (Feb. 2018). Kids with reading problems may have abnormal binocular vision. Journal of Optometry.

Blau V., Atteveldt, N., Ekkebus, M., Goebel, R., Blomert, L. (2009). magnetoencephalographic imaging.

Raghuram, A., Gowrisankaran, S., Swanson, E., Zurakowski, D., Hunter, D., Waber, D., July 19, 2018. Frequency of visual deficits in children with developmental dyslexia. JAMA Ophthalmol. 

Diminishing Dyslexia as an Adult was Life Changing

Before you can overcome dyslexia, you must first admit you have dyslexia. Then, you must have the motivation to reach out for help – intervention. Diminishing dyslexia as an adult is life-changing!

How I Improved Expressive Speech and Fluency

Today I am sharing with you a testimony from the mother of a frustrated speaker. Her personal background knowledge from her career led her to search for answers early on in her son’s life. She was one of my first clients and a case that lead me on a journey to discover how to improve expressive speech and fluency.

A Mother’s Journey Into the World of Dyslexia

During the spring of 2007, I attended Dianne Craft’s conference where I learned that dyslexia affected the auditory processing center and the visual processing center. Perhaps I had found help for my daughter’s reading and spelling struggles. She was a gifted artist, surely there were no visual processing concerns. What I did know is that modifying curriculum was not helping her learn to read and I was becoming very concerned about my inability to help her despite a degree in special education. She was beginning to express her frustration and calling herself dumb. I decided to try Dianne Craft’s Brain Integration Training with writing eights; her spelling program; and developed a very structured phonetic program using five different resources.

    5 Ways Sound Sensitivities Exasperate Autism, ADHD, and Dyslexia

    There are numerous ways sounds exasperate everyone. Auditory Integration Training strengthens the hearing system improving your sound tolerance. When should you look for answers? Help is needed when sounds tolerated by others create feelings of discomfort or emotional distress like anxiety. Understanding 5 ways sound sensitivities are more exasperating for those with a diagnosis like autism, ADHD, and dyslexia challenges your assumptions. Hopefully, your response changes from one of exasperation or judgment to increased patience, acceptance, and advocacy.

    Join Our Community!

    Get tips on how to improve your health and learn through purposeful play delivered straight to your inbox.

    FDA Statement On AIT

    "Auditory Integration Training remediateds impairments in auditory discrimination (sound sensitivity and auditory distortion) associated with Autism, Learning Disabilities, and related disorders - ADD, ADHD, CAPD (Central Auditory Processing Deficits), SPD (Sensory Processing Disorder), Dyslexia."

     

    Need Help?

    Cheri Moore helps children and adults improve their ability to respond and maintain progress after auditory integration training using medically-based testing to guide intervention.