Reading Disability
Conditions
Keywords
music training, rhythm
Brief summary
The purpose of this study is to determine whether music training is an effective treatment of reading disorders
Detailed description
Introduction: Children with dyslexia show deficits in temporal processing, both in language and in music. Musical activity increases phonological awareness, word segmentation, working memory, as well as reading abilities in children with typical development, a compelling evidence for a role of music training in fostering brain plasticity. Within this theoretical framework, we investigate the hypothesis that music training, by improving temporal processing and rhythm abilities, improves phonological awareness and reading skills in children with dyslexia. Methods: The study is a prospective, multicenter, open randomized controlled trial, consisting of test, rehabilitation and re-test
Interventions
BEHAVIORALMusic training
This program was based on the Kodaly and Orff pedagogy and adapted to focus on rhythm and temporal processing.
BEHAVIORALVisual arts
This program emphasized visual-spatial and hand skills as well as creativity.
Sponsors
WHO Collaborating Centre for Maternal and Child Health, Trieste
University of Roma La Sapienza
Aix Marseille Université
Study design
Allocation
RANDOMIZED
Intervention model
PARALLEL
Primary purpose
TREATMENT
Masking
NONE
Eligibility
Sex/Gender
ALL
Age
8 Years to 11 Years
Healthy volunteers
No
Inclusion criteria
* Italian native language * Reading performance (accuracy and/or speed) failed on at least two of three school grade standardized Italian tests: text, words, pseudowords (cut-offs: z-score \<-1.8 standard deviations from the mean for speed scores, a score \<5th percentile in the accuracy scores). * Hearing and neurological examination within normal range * Normal or corrected-to-normal visual acuity * General IQ \>85 at Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children III.
Exclusion criteria
* Presence of comorbidity involving Attentional Deficit Disorders with Hyperactivity (ADHD) * Presence of comorbidity involving Specific Language Impairment (SLI) * Presence of comorbidity involving Oppositional Defiant Disorder (ODD) * Severe emotional-relational impairments * Previous formal musical or painting education for more than one year, other on-going treatment. * Presence of other diseases (i.e. diabetes , cystic fibrosis, asthma...) that could influence the performance in cognitive and executive functions.
Design outcomes
Primary
| Measure | Time frame | Description |
|---|---|---|
| Pseudoword reading test | six months | The primary outcome variable was the performance in the pseudoword reading test measured in terms of accuracy (percentile of number of errors). |
Secondary
| Measure | Time frame | Description |
|---|---|---|
| Reading text | six months | Reading a short standardized text, measured in terms of accuracy (percentile of number of errors) and speed (z score of reading syll/sec or time). |
| Phonological awareness | six months | Phonemic blending task. Children have to blend sounds into words (e.g. hearing \[c\]-\[a\]-\[t\] and produce \[cat\]). The number of correct items is the dependent variable. |
| Word reading | six months | The ability to read aloud single words and pseudowords is measured on a standardized list of 102 Italian words |
Outcome results
None listed