Restoring Neural Oscillatory Communication in Developmental Dyslexia

IRCCS Ospedale San Raffaele78 enrolled

Overview

Developmental dyslexia (DD) is a multifactorial disorder that hampers the education of about 10% of individuals across cultures and is associated to both phonological and visual deficits. The latter have been linked to a deficit in the magnocellular-dorsal (M-D) visual stream, that has a critical role in guiding the activity of ventral visual stream areas where letters identity is extracted. Here, we will test the efficacy of transcranial alternate current stimulation (tACS) of the M-D stream combined with reading trainings in adult participants with DD, assessing the neurophysiological underpinnings of these new trainings with EEG and fMRI/DTI.

Study Type

INTERVENTIONAL

Allocation

RANDOMIZED

Purpose

BASIC_SCIENCE

Masking

SINGLE

Enrollment

Conditions

Developmental Dyslexia

Interventions

Eligibility

Sex: ALLMin age: 18 YearsMax age: 35 YearsHealthy volunteers:

Medical Language ↔ Plain English

Inclusion Criteria: * Adult patient (age between 18 and 35) * Official Diagnosis of Developmental Dyslexia (DD) * Normal or corrected-to-normal vision and hearing * Normal motor skills Exclusion Criteria: * Participants that cannot sign the consent form * Participants unable to read or understand and correctly complete the procedures foreseen by the study * Participants with a diagnosis or personal history of epilepsy or patients with a positive family history of epilepsy * Pregnant or breastfeeding patients * Participants with major psychiatric or neurological disorders and/or currently in psychopharmacological treatments. * Participants with metal implants in the brain, pacemakers, brain stimulators, cochlear implants. * Participants with claustrophobia (only for fMRI)

Outcomes

Primary Outcomes

Reading score

Text, word and pseudowords reading score

Time frame: Pre-training, 1-7 days post-training, follow-up at 1 and 6 months