Intensive Reading Therapy Can Rewire the Brain

In the August 2008 issue of Psychologia, researchers Meyler et al. discovered that poor readers in the 5^thgrade who receive 100 hours of intensive reading therapy showed actual differences in their brain function on fMRI scans!  These differences were observed immediately after the intensive remediation period and remained present one year later.  Prior to instruction, poor readers showed significantly less activation in key reading areas of the brain.  After instruction, these areas showed much greater activation and the activation continued to spread over the following year.  After a year, activation in the previous poor readers was almost the same as the level of activation seen in the good readers.  This is wonderful support for the importance of focused intervention for long term gains!