A teacher asked why we do not have an ANSWER KEY for Dyslexia Games and if there are research references that she can look into, if you are curious read on...
The games are designed to be intuitive for the child. We mostly work with children who need a program they can do at home without professional assistance. That is why the whole program is so simple for parents and teachers. It is quite unlike anything else. This is a brain training therapy.
All you need to do is give the child three pages and a smooth black marker/pen, (not a pencil) they will look at the page and do the work without being told anything. As you know children with Dyslexia, ADHD and Autism do not want to be told what to do or how to do it. These children have a strong drive to figure things out.
Each page is self-checking, with a built answers so the child will be able to tell on his own if he did the right thing. They are completing patterns and filling in missing information. We have found that the therapy works whether or not a parent or teacher corrects the work. What matters is that the child uses the right brain, has a spark of curiosity, a moment of discovery, and uses logic to complete the task. It is a brain activation process that is built around the natural process of visual thinking that is common to children with dyslexia.
We have found that once the child activates the right brain and takes pleasure in an activity it is then easy to introduce letters, words and reading in this new format. The child has never done an activity like this and they use a new part of the brain that does not have a mess of fiber bundles and blocking the process and slowing them down. The child's brain rewires and the reading center of the brain transfers quickly to the new region, in the right hemisphere. Brain scans show that when a person with dyslexia struggles with reading there is a lack of activity in the left brain where most people read, but when they complete a successful therapy and learn to read most of the activity is occurring in the right brain. The whole goal of Dyslexia Games is based on this research- transfer the reading activities to the right brain by incorporating reading with art and logic.
Many parents and teachers use Dyslexia Games for children who do not have dyslexia or any other problem as an IQ booster and to help boost the child's creative thinking, problem solving skills, neatness, attention to detail, and so much more. We have also found that when dyslexia runs in a family parents use the games with all the children, and when they start a 4 or 5 year old on Series A, it helps them to get off to a great start.
Think of Dyslexia Games as an art project when you look at the child's work, and appreciate each child's expression and abilities. In the beginning it is normal for some children to be sloppy, but wait a week, and the change always happens. So far we have had over 8000 students and only 12 were reported to do poorly or had refused to do the pages at all, most of those were older boys with autism who thought the games were childish, so now we have Series C for them.
Here are some resources and research you may want to look at: Reading in the Brain: The New Science of How We Read by Stanislas Dehaene
Other Brain Research References Regarding Dyslexia
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Horwitz B, Rumsey JM, Donahue BC (1998), Functional connectivity of the angular gyrus and dyslexia. Neurobiology: 95: 8939-8944. [Abstract] Rumsey, JM, Horwitz, B, et al (1999): A functional lesion in developmental dyslexia: left angular gyral blood flow predicts severity. Brain and Language, 70: 187-204. [Abstract] Shaywitz SE, Shaywitz BA, Fulbright R, et al (2003). Neural Systems for Compensation and Persistence: Young Adult Outcome of Childhood Reading Disability. Biological Psychiatry 54:25-33. [Abstract] Updates — Recent Research
Hoeft F, McCandliss BD, Black JM, et al (2010). Neural systems predicting long-term outcome in dyslexia. PNAS, Published online before print December 20, 2010, doi: 10.1073/pnas.1008950108. [Abstract] Leonard CM, Eckert MA (2008). Assymetry and Dyslexia. Dev Neuropsychol, 33(6): 663-681, doi: 10.1080/87565640802418597. [Abstract] Welcome SE, Leonard CM, Chiarello C (2010). Alternate reading strategies and variable asymmetry of the planum temporale in adult resilient readers. Brain and Language, 113: 73-83. [Abstract] Welcome SE, Chiarello C, Thompson PM, Sowell ER (2011).Reading Skill is Related to Individual Differences in Brain Structure in College Students. Human Brain Mapping 32 8):1194–1205. doi: 10.1002/hbm.21101. [Abstract] See also: Can Reading Problems from Dyslexia be Prevented?, by Sharon Pfeiffer. The Dyslexic Reader (1994-1995).
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