Age-RelatedChangesinReadingSystemsofDyslexicChildren.pdfVIP

Age-Related Changes in Reading Systems of Dyslexic Children Bennett A. Shaywitz, MD,1,2 Pawel Skudlarski, PhD,3 John M. Holahan, PhD,1 Karen E. Marchione, RN,1 R. Todd Constable, PhD,4 Robert K. Fulbright, MD,4 Daniel Zelterman, PhD,5 Cheryl Lacadie, BS,4 and Sally E. Shaywitz, MD1 Objective: To examine age-related changes in the neural systems for reading in nonimpaired and dyslexic children and ado- lescents. Methods: Functional magnetic resonance imaging was used to study age-related changes in the neural systems for reading in a cross-sectional sample of 232 right-handed children 7 to 18 years of age (113 dyslexic readers and 119 nonimpaired readers) as they read pseudowords. Results: In nonimpaired readers, systems in the left anterior lateral occipitotemporal area developed with age, whereas systems in the right superior and middle frontal regions decreased. In contrast, in dyslexic readers, systems in the left posterior medial occipitotemporal regions developed with age. Older nonimpaired readers were left lateralized in the anterior lateral occipitotem- poral area; there was no difference in asymmetry between younger and older dyslexic readers. Interpretation: These findings offer a possible neurobiological explanation for the differences in reading acquisition between dyslexic and nonimpaired readers and provide further evidence of the critical role of the left occipitotemporal region in the development of reading. Ann Neurol 2007;61:363–370 Converging evidence from a number of lines of inves- dyslexia reflects a deficit within the language system, tigation points to three important neural systems for and more particularly, in a lower level component, reading in children and adults: one anterior system phonology, which has to do with the ability to access around the inferior frontal gyrus involved in word the underlyi