Dyslexia and the Auditory Deficit

Around 80% of children struggling with readingvisual approach is substantially less effective to
between the ages of 6 and 9 display an "auditoryread by than the auditory method is that the
deficit". There are several main reasons foraverage brain is incapable of memorising more
reading difficulty and dyslexia, but we have foundthan a few hundred words. Therefore reading
this to be by far the most significant one. A realanything more than simple text leads to a lot of
solution to the auditory deficit can massivelyholes in the flow of meaning. There is of course a
reduce the number of poor readers leavingrange of ability in everything and some people
primary school. Currently around one in fivewith virtually photographic memories will be able
children reach 11 unable to read proficiently. Soto memorise more words than that. And some
this is an issue for 600,000 children around thehighly experienced readers (like lawyers and
world in each academic year and about 30 millionacademics) will combine both approaches by
adults who are functionally illiterate with anskimming a text visually at high speed and then
auditory deficit. The symptoms of an auditoryzoning in on just the important parts using a
deficit are a lot of guessing when readingslower auditory process. But the effectiveness of
(particularly with short words), an inability tothe skimming is dependent on their ability to read
decode a simple nonsense word like thrintock,any word as well. Unfortunately, the children who
mounbill or flognike and sometimes an ability toare reading visually seem to do well initially and
read text out loud without following the meaning.are unaware that they are heading in the wrong
So what is an auditory deficit and why is it adirection.
significant factor? First I need to explain the twoIn year 1 and perhaps year 2 of school everyone
potential processes to reading text. If you haveis happy. But somewhere between the ages of 6
the "little voice" in your head as you read this,and 9 they will move onto a reading plateau as
you are using an auditory process. On the otherthe text gets more complicated and the task just
hand, if you are recognizing words visually andseems to get harder and harder. You will often
guessing or skipping the ones you are not surethen see a lot of frustration and anxiety. This
about, then you are using a visual process. Let'snormally translates into a strongly negative
look at the auditory process first. The image ofemotion towards reading and substantial
the text lands on your retinas (at the back ofresistance to further efforts. The whole thing can
your eyes) and the signal is passed to your visualget very upsetting for both child and parents. But
cortex. The visual cortex, at the back of yourhere is the important thing to understanding this.
head, analyzes it and recognizes the patterns ofThe fact that they have not engaged their
the letters. That information is then passed toauditory cortex has conventionally been blamed
your auditory cortex, in your left hemisphereon an unidentified "problem" with that part of their
close to your left ear, where the letter patternsbrain.
are mapped to corresponding possible sounds. InWe have found that to be profoundly wrong,
English there are 204 letter patterns thatexcept in very rare cases. The children are
represent roughly 70 individual sounds.showing no problem with their auditory and
So they are not one-to-one relationships, butlinguistic cortex if they can hear and speak
there is a code, nonetheless. The most likelylanguage successfully. So why do we think it
sounds are then blended to form the word andsuddenly malfunctions when used for reading?
that is passed to the linguistic cortex beside yourThe truth is that the visual to pre-frontal
left cheekbone. The linguistic cortex has twoconnection is a very strong one. We are using it
distinct areas to it. The posterior zone (nearestall the time. It is a "natural" process in the sense
your ear) is for comprehension of language and isthat it has been developed over millions of years
called Wernicke's area. The anterior zone (nearestof evolution. By contrast, the visual to auditory
your left eyebrow) is called Broca's area and isconnection is only used for reading. It is a
used for the production of language. Therefore itconnection we have created in the last 5000
is Wernicke's area that turns the blended wordyears and is therefore not "natural".
from the auditory cortex into meaning and passesTherefore it is not that the children can't engage
that to your pre-frontal cortex at the front oftheir auditory cortex in the reading process. It is
your brain. That is where you "think" about stuffjust that they haven't . They have naturally gone
in a conscious manner. If you are reading out loud,down the other path. In order to fix the auditory
you then connect to Broca's area in order todeficit it is necessary to "re-engineer" the
generate speech, although it is possible to loopneurology of the reading process for the child, by
straight from Wernicke's area to Broca's area,rerouting it through the auditory cortex. But that
which leads to that rather monotone readingis absolutely possible and often gets very quick
style, absent of any intonation. In contrast to allresults. With the right guidance we often find the
of that, the visual reader loops straight from thepenny drops in a matter of weeks. Of course the
visual cortex to the pre-frontal cortex. The wordlonger a child has been developing a visual
cow , for instance, is processed in much theapproach to text, the harder it is to switch. But
same way as a picture of a cow. The auditorythat certainly does not make it impossible. The
cortex remains dormant. That is why it is calledages 6-9 are the ideal for fixing the situation, but
an auditory deficit.we have worked successfully with 70-year-olds
The absence of activity in the auditory cortextoo! It is never too late.
can be seen on an MRI scan. The reason that this