ADOLESCENT LITERACY: CLASSIFICATION, MECHANISM, OUTCOME

University Of California Los Angeles, Los Angeles CA

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Abstract

This subproject is one of many research subprojects utilizing the resources provided by a Center grant funded by NIH/NCRR. The subproject and investigator (PI) may have received primary funding from another NIH source, and thus could be represented in other CRISP entries. The institution listed is for the Center, which is not necessarily the institution for the investigator. Building on what we and others have learned about the neural circuitry for reading, the goal of this Project is to use a developmental longitudinal framework and fMRI to examine the neural circuitry for skilled reading in non-impaired (NI) and in reading disabled (RD) children. Good evidence from a number of lines of investigation now indicates that there are at least three major neural systems serving reading, an anterior system and two posterior circuits;one which is more ventral and another, located more dorsally. Our cross-sectional data suggest that the occipito-temporal (ventral) area appears to be related to skilled reading. With increasing age (and skill), good readers show relative consolidation of brain activation during word identification at this occipito-temporal site;in contrast, poor readers demonstrate relative dissociation of brain activations across several neural areas in response to the same task. We propose to use a developmental longitudinal framework to examine the neural circuitry for reading in NI and RD readers beginning at age 7.5 years and continuing through age 13 years. Our objectives are to characterize the development of the neural circuitry for reading in good and in poor readers, to determine the relationship between and among the different neural systems (anterior, dorsal and ventral) at different ages and in readers of varying levels of skills, to determine the early brain activation patterns and behaviors that presages the later development of patterns of relative consolidation of neural sites for word identification, and to determine neurobiologic correlates of subtypes of reading disability: children with primarily phonologic deficits and children with both phonologic and rapid naming (rate) deficits. We further seek to determine the relationship between neurobiologic indices and behavioral measures of fluency and automaticity, in addition to accuracy and other standard measures of reading. Knowledge gained from this study should lead to more precise understanding of the developmental course of skilled reading and with it, the potential to detect the early indications of a reading disability, to intervene earlier and to develop more targeted and effective interventions.