Using Neuroscience and Technology to Build Learning Capacity.

Using Neuroscience and Technology to Build Learning Capacity

Developmental Cognitive Neuroscience

• New area of neuroscience (15 years old)• Evolving thanks to the new noninvasive

technologies to study the brain (fMRI, PET etc.)

…reading is the one area of the school curriculum where neuroscience has made its greatest contribution…

Sousa, 2005

Neuronal communication system

Neurotransmitter Chemicals

• Acetylcholine: focused attention/reward

• Dopamine: reward, novelty

• Norepinephrine: novelty

This Student is Prepared to Learn: Paying Attention, Storing Multiple Commands and

Assigning Meaning to What is Said

This Student is Not Prepared to Learn:

Not Paying Attention, Not Storing Multiple Commands and Not Assigning Meaning to What is Said

National Institute of HealthCited Reasons for Poor Reading Ability

Causes of Poor ReadingResearch by National Institute of Health

(after a ten-year public study) concluded:

80% of the time cognitive skill weakness…

» Working memory » Ability to attend » Auditory and visual processing speed» Following sequences of directions

…is the source of the difficulty

Reading is SimplyWRITTEN LANGUAGE

But….

“If a student cannot identify sounds in spoken words…he will have difficulty with decoding and thus reading.”

Dr. G. Reid Lyon, National Institute of Child Health

and Human Development, NIH 1997

1. READ

2. WRITE

3. SPEAK

4. LISTEN

5. COMPREHEND

Five Domains of Language Proficiency

What are Some Causes for Poor Language Ability?

Weak or missing neural maps can be caused by:• Limited exposure to the language of the classroom• Inner ear infections• Neurological problems• Processing speed • Heritable factors• Many other factors we haven’t identified

Perceptual weakness

Weak phonological representations

Oral language weakness

Reading, writing, spelling problems

Learning and academic problems

Struggling students

Language Literacy Continuum

Meaningful Differences in the Everyday Experience of Young American Children by Betty Hart & Todd R. Risley. Paul H. Brookes Publishing Co. (1995).

12 24 36 48(Age Child in Months)

Est

ima

ted

Cu

mu

lati

ve W

ord

s A

dd

ress

ed t

o C

hil

d(I

n M

illi

on

s)

Working-class26 Million Words

Welfare13 Million Words

Professional45 Million Words

Language Experiences by Group

5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16

16

15

14

13

12

11

10

9

8

7

6

5

Read

ing

Ag

e L

evel

Chronological Age

Low Oral Language in Kindergarten

High Oral Language in Kindergarten

5.2 years difference

The Effects of Weaknesses in Oral Language on Reading Growth(Hirsch, 1996)

Problems with processing spoken language lead to difficulties with:

• Following directions• Doing multiple choice tests• Reading paragraphs• Understanding pronouns• Understanding embedded clauses

Consequences in the Classroom

For written material this is exaggerated by slow labored decoding

Research has taught us:

• Both challenge and feedback are required for brain growth.

• At birth, we have an equal potential to learn any language.

• Literacy in the 1st language accelerates literacy in the second.

• Socioeconomic level affects learning environment and vocabulary

Research has taught us:

• People who are functionally bilingual can delay the onset of dementia over 4 years longer than monolinguals.

Meet the Reseachers:Paula Tallal

•A world-recognized authority on language-learning disabilities

•Active on many scientific advisory boards and government committees

•Researches developmental language disorders and learning problems. 

• Students need to distinguish speech sounds correctly so they can learn the rules of language and associate sounds with letters

• Speech sounds can differ by as little as 10 milliseconds

• Fast ForWord emphasizes the differences in sounds to make them easier to distinguish

Processing Speech

50

55

60

65

70

75

80

85

90

95

100

2-Tone Sequence Task

8 15 30 60 150 350 428 947 1466 1985 3543

3023 4062

Normals

LanguageDelayed

Tallal, P & Piercy, M (1973) Nature, 241

Faster (milliseconds) Slower

Perc

en

t C

orr

ect

Auditory Processing Differences

40

Why Processing Sound Is a Challenge For the Brain..

100milliseconds

Small Changes in Timing -Big Changes in Meaning

Phonemic Awareness

Phonics

Fluency

Vocabulary

Comprehension

Reading for Information

“Cognitive Skills Development”

Memory Attention

Processing

Sequencing

Foundational Language Skills

“By building a strong foundation,

literacy and learning can be accelerated.”

Relationships and Viewpoints

The Foundations to Literacy & LearningBrain

Fitness

Meet the Researchers:Michael Merzenich

• Considered by many to be the father of Brain Plasticity

• Has been conducting research that supports Brain Plasticity theories for nearly 30 years

• Has been using fMRI technology to take images of the brain before and after a student learns to read.

Memory

Attention

Processing

Sequencing

Memory

Attention

Processing

Sequencing

Cognitive Skills: The Foundation to Reading!

LEARNING MAPS

1. Conditions in the brain are dynamic. They change and “rewire” at any age

2. The brain’s ability to change, or be trained, is known as

Neuroplasticity

3. The brain can change and learn at any age, and certain conditions encourage learning

Neuroscience Findings

on The Learning Brain

Neuroscience Findings

Struggling readers show significantly slower and less active neural activity in the areas of the brain affecting cognitive skills:

• working memory

• attention

• processing speed

• phonological awareness

Neuroscience Principles

Frequency and intensity

Adaptivity

Simultaneous development

Timely motivation

da

Acoustically Modifying a Sound Creates a “Pure” Signal

da

Progress Towards Natural Speech

How New Technology Helps

• When acoustic differences are stretched and emphasized, students can perceive them

Consistent Trials for Maximum Performance

Number of 50-minute Sessions

Lea

rnin

g T

rial

s Fast ForWordElementary35,000 trials

Other Software6,000 trials

Fast ForWordMiddle & High45,000 trials

Reading Skills Improve

Comprehensive Test of Phonological Processing; Phonological Awareness Test;

Test of Phonological Awareness

Reading Scores Improve

TerraNova (Tennessee Comprehensive Assessment Program)

Improvements Are Maintained

Woodcock-Johnson Revised

• Processing spoken language• Following directions• Quality and quantity of verbal expression and conversational skills• Reading and comprehending paragraphs• Understanding embedded clauses• Self esteem• Confidence• Writing longer responses and paragraphs• Interest in reading• Greater ability to focus and answer in class• FEWER REFERRALS TO SPECIAL EDUCATION

Improvements Observed

By Teachers and Parents

The efficacy of

the strategy

crosses a variety

of student

populations.

Memory Improves

Comprehensive Test of Phonological Processing

Attention Increases

ADHD Rating Scale- IV

Processing Improves

Goldman-Fristoe-Woodcock Test of Auditory Discrimination

Sequencing Improves

TAPS-R (auditory sentence memory subtest)

Harvard Medical SchoolIndependent Study

Restorative Neurology and Neuroscience 25 (2007) 295–310 295IOS Press

Neural correlates of rapid auditory processingare disrupted in children with developmentaldyslexia and ameliorated with training: AnfMRI study

N. Gaab,∗, J.D.E. Gabrieli, G.K. Deutsch, P. Tallal and E. Temple, Department of Brain and Cognitive Sciences, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA, USA

Stanford Institute for Reading and Learning, Stanford University, Stanford, CA, USACenter for Molecular and Behavioral Neuroscience, Rutgers University, Newark, NJ, USADepartment of Psychological and Brain Sciences and Department of Education,

Dartmouth College, Hanover, NH, USAChildren’s Hospital Boston, Developmental Medicine Center, Harvard Medical School,

Boston, MA, USA

Cornell University Independent StudySignature of

Average Readers

Signature of Average Readers

Signature of Dyslexic Readers,

beforeFast ForWord

Signature of Dyslexic Readers,

beforeFast ForWord

Signature of Dyslexic Readers,

afterFast ForWord

Signature of Dyslexic Readers,

afterFast ForWord

Dyslexic children’s reading ability had been raised to normal levels by the end of the eight (8) week remediation period.

Dyslexic children’s reading ability had been raised to normal levels by the end of the eight (8) week remediation period.

Adapted from Temple et al.,Proceedings of the National Academy of the Sciences, 2003

Stanford University Independent Study

Right Left

Dyslexic ReadersDyslexic Readers

Adapted from Temple et al., Proceedings of the National Academy of the Sciences, 2003

Normal ReadersNormal Readers

Good Reading

www.positscience.com

Using Neuroscience and Technology to Build Learning Capacity