Psychology Today (Psychologie Heute)
A computer programme helps dyslexics achieve success quickly
The television breaks down in the middle of the most exciting scene. The picture is black, nothing works. The TV mechanic arrives, takes it apart and thinks about what the problem could be. He checks the fuses, measures the cables and replaces the broken module. The television works again. Reinhard Werth from the Institute of Social Paediatrics and Adolescent Medicine at the University of Munich says that a similar approach can be used to treat “reading and spelling difficulties” – formerly known as dyslexia – and that it can be just as effective. As soon as the correct cause has been found – the defective module has been discovered, so to speak – children can immediately read without errors. That is the promise of the neuropsychologist. He has developed a computer programme which he uses for therapy and diagnosis and which is also available to buy. Until now, dyslexia has been diagnosed using specially developed standardised test procedures and compensated for with speech therapy exercises. This means that there are lots of extra lessons in which the child has to memorise the correct rules for writing and speaking. The problem with this is that all dyslexics receive the same treatment. Individual differences are not taken into account. This is where Reinhard Werth comes in. For the Munich-based medical psychologist, there is no such thing as a dyslexic. For him, reading is the result of numerous brain functions. The various regions responsible for reading are spread across large areas of the brain. Reading is possible when the brain is able to bring these different areas together in an organised way. However, if one or more of these brain functions or their coordination is impaired, reading problems can arise. To identify the areas in which there are coordination or reception difficulties, Werth proceeds in the same way as the television mechanic. He looks for the defective module. To do this, he uses a computer programme he developed himself called celeco. This programme contains exercises that systematically identify sources of interference. Werth has been able to identify 14 major subgroups of reading disorders, such as the “dyslexic who pronounces too early”. Normally, when we read, we do not let our gaze flow from one letter to the next, but focus on an entire word or word segment. The sequence of sounds and their meaning associated with the sequence of letters we see are recalled in the brain, and then we make a jump in our gaze. The recall time for children aged seven years is a maximum of 300 milliseconds. A dyslexic child who pronounces “too early” needs several seconds to do this. If it tries to read faster, the brain cannot search long enough for the correct word in its memory. So the child guesses – and gets an F in reading. To check whether a child is a “dyslexic who pronounces too early”, Werth gives the child individual words to read on the monitor. First, the word is shown for 200 milliseconds. If the child reads the word incorrectly, Werth adds a signal to the word, which only sounds after several seconds. Only after hearing the signal is the child allowed to say the word aloud. In many cases, the child can read without mistakes for the first time in their life at this speed. Werth then reduces the waiting time until the signal at which the child begins to make mistakes. This gives him a benchmark that can be three or more seconds for a “dyslexic who pronounces too early”. This means that this child can read without errors if it takes at least three seconds for each word or segment. Werth has therefore quickly found the defective module and can swap it for a functioning one, namely a longer retrieval time. The child now has to practise the new reading behaviour. They should first internalise their individual retrieval time and then gradually reduce it. To do this, they are given the exercise with their individual retrieval time on a USB stick to take home with them. Further sessions with the therapist take place at regular intervals, during which the recall time is gradually reduced. Werth’s experience with many of the dyslexics he treats is that with daily practice of around 15 minutes, the child can read fluently and without errors in three months, even without a computer programme. “It may be a slow reader, but it will learn to read and understand without errors,” explains Werth. Another subgroup are “spelling dyslexics”. Many children labelled as dyslexic have considerable difficulty making the transition from reading letters to reading words. This means that the child can read individual letters correctly, but the moment the individual letters come together to form a complete word, the child is unable to read the word.
Translated by celeco