Why ROR Works: Neural Foundations and New Frontiers

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Why ROR WorksNeural Foundations and New
Frontiers

• Robert Needlman, MD
• MetroHealth Medical Center
• Case Western Reserve University
• Cleveland, Ohio
• robert.needlman_at_case.edu

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Learning, Reading, and the Brain
Education
Reach Out And Read
Reading aloud
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• The statement so frequently made that
  education means drawing out is excellent, if we
  mean simply to contrast it with the process of
  pouring in. But, after all, it is difficult to
  connect the idea of drawing out with the ordinary
  doings of the child of three, four, seven, or
  eight years of age. He is already running over,
  spilling over, with activities of all kinds the
  question of education is the question of taking
  hold of his activities, of giving them direction.

John Dewey, the School and the Life of the Child,
lecture 2 in The School and Society (p 49),
1889.
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• All thinking involves activity of the brain.
  As the brain acts, it changes so as to become
  more efficient at whatever it is doing.

Dr. Spocks Baby and Child Care, 8th ed.
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Fundamental Concepts

• Billions of neurons
• Neurons stop dividing after maturation
• Neural connections continue to develop and
  degenerate after birth
• Connections that are used are strengthened, those
  that are not used are weakened

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Early Brain Development Timetable
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Processes ofBrain Development
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Naive Neuron
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Experienced Neuron
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A typical synapse (cerebellum, paramedian
lobule) Kleim, 1997, Learning-dependent synaptic
modifications
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Synaptogenesis and Pruning

• Each cortical neuron makes 15,000 synapses
• 1.8 million synapses per second between 8 weeks
  gestational age and 2 years
• Approximately half of these are pruned before the
  end of adolescence.
• Use it or lose it

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The N-Shaped Curve(brain glucose utilization)
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Visual cortex
Frontal, auditory cortex
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LEFT
Left Occipital Cortex
Right Visual Field
RIGHT
from Eliot (2000) Whats Going On in There?
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Sensitive/Critical Periods
Normal V1 cortical dominance stripes
Cortical stripes after monocular (one eye)
occlusion
Work by David Hubel and Torsten Wiesel, Nature,
1982
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Synaptic Development in V1Depends on Balanced
Input
R
L
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Critical Periods

• Maximal experience-dependent changes occur after
  peak synaptic density, but before pruning
  complete.
• Timing of these brain changes defines critical
  periods differently in different brain systems.
• Plasticity continues through adulthood for many,
  perhaps most, higher brain functions

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Magnetic source imaging tracks changes in
cortical surface controlling the left hand,
related to the onset of string-instrument
practice in adults (Elber, 1995). The greatest
change is seen with earliest start, but even
late starters showed cortical change.
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Training in a 2-finger stimulation task reshapes
the cortical map in adult owl monkeys (Tallal, et
al. 2000)
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Timing is key consistent simultaneous
stimulation of multiple digits, either proximally
or distally, redraws the cortical map now there
are only two distinct areas, corresponding to
proximal and distal.
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Critical Periods for Language

• Phonology birth to 1 year, with tail into teens
• Grammar first 5 years, with tail into teens
• Vocabulary never

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Phonology

• Chinese lacks R/L distinctions
• Thai consonants bp, dt, ng five tones
• Maximum phonological sensitivity 8-11 months
• dishabituation tests for discrimination
• bp bp bp bp bp bp dt

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Nature of inputs is CrucialPatricia Kuhl, PhD

• From 7 to 10 mo after brief play sessions with
  Chinese-speaking grad students, US babies
  discriminate Chinese sounds.
• What happens after equal time exposure to
  video-taped Chinese grad student?

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Phonological Processing
Upon seeing written word, decode letters into
phonemes (basic sound units)
CAT
/k/ /æ/ /t/
Next, connect resulting sounds to known word, and
bring concept of cat to mind.
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Phonological Awareness and Processing

• Counting phonemes
• Phoneme segmentation
• Rhyming
• Short term verbal memory e.g. Pseudo-word
  repetition
• Rapid recall verbal naming tasks

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The Reading Brain
Syntax -- grammar
Meaning- semantics
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PET Scans in Dyslexics fromItaly, France, and
England
Controls reading
Dyslexics reading
Areas more active in controls
Paulesu, et al. 2001 Science
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Areas where dyslexic groups had less activity
using different methods PET, fMRI rhyming,
pseudowords, etc.
From Temple, 2002
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Hereditability

• If one parent has dyslexia, 23 to 68 of the
  children do.
• Relative risk varies from 3 to 17
• Siblings have roughly 40 chance
• Several candidate genes, chromosomes 6, 15

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Early Phonological Processing Problems

• Children of dyslexic parents have
• Less rich and varied babbling (evidence of
  delayed phonological development)
• Slower vocabulary development
• Abnormal event-related potentials (ERPs) when
  listening to spoken words (slowed transmission)
• Cited in Lundberg, 2002

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Importance of Phonological Awareness

• Key is transition from implicit to explicit
  awareness of phonology phonemes need to be
  brought to conscious attention of child.
• Children of dyslexic parents, given intense
  phonological stimulation, had decreased rate of
  dyslexia (from 40 to 17)
• Cited in Lundberg, 2002

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A Picture of the Brain

• Genes create basic structure (floors and walls)
  environment fills in details (rooms, hallways,
  functionality).
• Initial exuberance (peak of the n-shaped curve)
  gradually honed to efficient processor.
• Multiple windows of opportunity opening, closing
  at different times.
• Ongoing plasticity (in many areas), but early
  experiences create contexts for later learning.

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The Brain in ContextCo-creation childs brain
both develops itself, and plays role in
development of parents brain
O
O
P
P
C
C
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Frontiers
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ROR Outcome Studies
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Language Outcomes(adjusting for 10 potential
confounders)
Adjusted mean language scores
95 CI 3.3 14.0 plt.002
95 CI 0.04 8.6 Plt .05
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Levels of Meaning
Story
Print
Language
Emotional Warmth and Sharing
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Developmental Schedules DII Denver II BSID
Bayley Scale of Infant Development RDSIRevised
Developmental Screening Inventory (based on
Gesell)
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Fine Motor
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Visual Attention/Language
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Temperament and a Childs Approach to Books
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Reading Aloud Depressive Symptomsin Mothers
Data from Princeton Survey Research Associates,
1995
Percent of Parents
Read-Aloud Frequency
Number of Symptoms of Depression
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Mean z-scores for infant behavior as a function
of attachment classification Babies
plt.05
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Mean z-scores for infant behavior as a function
of attachment classification Mothers
plt.05
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Frontiers
2007 UNESCO Confucius Prize for Literacy

• AI/AN initiative
• Bill Flood, Steve Holve
• Leyendo Juntos
• ROR and the family
• ROR in the Military
• International ROR
• Italy Nati Per Leggere
• Spain, Israel, Bangladesh, Philippines, England,
  Canada, Chile

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Question 4 How Can ROR Work in Different
Cultural Contexts?
An Alaskan Native (Yupik) Book, 2004