The test, developed by Southern Illinois University Carbondale researchers, will identify 80 percent of those who later develop dyslexia or other language-related disorders. Ours is really the first approach that suggests you can identify these kids within the first 36-hours of life. By measuring how a baby's brain responds to voices, the Molfeses can detect problem readers earlier than ever before. Results are based on annual tests of 103 children, from birth up to through age eight, from 1986 to 1999. The husband and wife team in recent months reported their findings at professional conferences in the United States, Finland and Spain.
Researchers then play recorded speech sounds.
Analysis shows kids quickest at picking up and interpreting sounds grow up to be the best readers. Dyslexics and problem readers seem to be plagued, he says, by two problems. Perhaps they're making up for the fact that they didn't detect the sounds sufficiently at first. Rather than doing a second step of processing, their brains try to do two steps at once. As a result, there's more competition later in time for the same brain resources.