Gene x Environment Interplay in Developmental Dyslexia Treatment: A Round-trip Translation Between Humans and Animal

IRCCS Eugenio Medea60 enrolled

Overview

Developmental dyslexia affects 7% of school-age children (Male:Female ratio of 1.5:1) and incurs disadvantages in education and occupation. Scientific progress concerning the etiology of developmental dyslexia evidenced the complex gene-environment interaction. The DCDC2-READ1 deletion associates with reading skills and affects the magnocellular-dorsal stream in humans and animals. DCDC2 modifies neural activity within the excitatory pathways. The magnocellular-dorsal stream mediates the function of the attention network. Difficulties in spatial and temporal attention shifting impair letter-to-speech sound integration increasing neural noise. Action video games improve the efficiency of the magnocellular-dorsal stream. The aim of this cutting-edge, round trip translation study is threefold: 1.to unravel new insights behind the pathophysiology of developmental dyslexia, 2. to assess gene-environment interaction effects on developmental dyslexia endophenotypes, and 3. to identify useful clues to foster the identification of new, personalized treatments.

Study Type

INTERVENTIONAL

Allocation

Purpose

PREVENTION

Masking

NONE

Enrollment

Conditions

Reading Disorder

Interventions

Thanks to their specific characteristics (presentation of multiple peripheral, rapidly moving, spatio-temporally unpredictable stimuli), Action Video-Games improve reading skills through their effects on the Magnocellular-Dorsal stream. Training will consist of 20 days of Action Video-Games sessions of 1 hour each, three times per week.

Eligibility

Sex: ALLMin age: 5 YearsMax age: 6 YearsHealthy volunteers:

Medical Language ↔ Plain English

Inclusion Criteria * 5-years old pre-readers, * normal intelligence quotient, * no main counter indications for magnetic resonance acquisition, * no previous diagnosis of any neurodevelopmental disorders. Exclusion Criteria: * intelligence quotient below the average range, * presence of counter indications for magnetic resonance acquisition, * previous diagnosis of any neurodevelopmental disorders.

Outcomes

Primary Outcomes

Short-term memory

Short-term memory - assessed by the Single Digit Forward Span, Single Digit Backward Span. Measures obtained: Z scores age-corrected.

Time frame: 3 years

Phonological awareness

Phonological awareness - assessed by the nonword repetition test. Measures obtained: Z scores age-corrected.

Time frame: 3 years

Rapid automatized naming

Rapid automatized naming - assessed by the RAN test. Measures obtained: Z scores age-corrected.

Time frame: 3 years

Reading skills

Reading skills - assessed by single unrelated words and pseudo-words reading tests. Measures obtained: Z scores age-corrected.

Time frame: 3 years

Visual attention

Visual attention - assessed by a computer-based visual attention task

Time frame: 3 years

Visual motion processing

Visual motion processing - assessed by Coherent dot motion task

Time frame: 3 years

measurement of neurotransmitters

in vivo measures of neurotransmitters including glutamate and gamma-Aminobutyric acid magnetic resonance spectroscopy

Time frame: 3 years

Gene x Environment Interplay in Developmental Dyslexia Treatment: A Round-trip Translation Between Humans and Animal

Overview

Conditions

Interventions

Eligibility

Locations (1)

Outcomes

Primary Outcomes

Central Contacts