Dyslexic Kids Improve Reading Skills with Video Games

First Posted: Mar 02, 2013 05:33 AM EST
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A study published in the journal Current Biology states that action video games help children suffering with dyslexia to improve their reading skills.

Dyslexia affects the neurodevelopment of the child and for nearly 10 percent of kids with dyslexia, learning is very taxing. It is a developmental reading disorder and occurs when the brain fails to recognize and process certain symbols. This leads to problems in school, as well as behavioral problems.

The study, conducted by Italian researchers, states that playing action video games for 12 hours helps dyslexia kids drastically improve their reading skills when compared to the spontaneous reading development treatment done throughout the year.

The team in their earlier study showed a link between dyslexia and early problems of visual attention rather than problems related to language.

"Action video games enhance many aspects of visual attention, mainly improving the extraction of information from the environment," Andrea Facoetti, of the University of Padua, said in a press statement. This helped the children with dyslexia to adjust and focus their concentration more efficiently, to obtain the appropriate information of a written word.

He continues to say that this study supports the concept that visual deficits are the root of dyslexia. Till date, no treatment is approved that includes video games.

In this study, the researchers tested the reading, phonological and attention skills of children, who were divided in two groups. These children had dyslexia and they were tested before and after playing action or non-action video games for nine sessions. Each session lasted for 80 minutes.

The researchers noticed that the children who played action video games were able to read fast without losing accuracy. In addition to this, they gained in other tests of attention.

The results of this study are significant as it helps in understanding the brain mechanism underlying dyslexia. This also offers new remediation programs that help in reducing the symptoms of dyslexia.

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