Scientists Explain Rates of Dyslexia

Join Our Community of Science Lovers!

On supporting science journalism

If you're enjoying this article, consider supporting our award-winning journalism by subscribing. By purchasing a subscription you are helping to ensure the future of impactful stories about the discoveries and ideas shaping our world today.

Despite mounting evidence that suggests dyslexia has biological roots, many studies show its prevalence differs from one country to the next. The number of dyslexic 10 year-olds in Italy, for example, was recently found to be half that in the U.S. So Eraldo Paulesu of the University of Milan Bicocca and colleagues devised a clever experiment to test whether different languages¿or different neurological problems¿were to blame. In today's issue of Science, they report that dyslexia in fact appears to have a common neurological cause across borders, but that complexities in certain languages can make the problem worse.

The researchers tested dyslexics who spoke English, French and Italian. Unlike Italian, the first two languages have what is called irregular orthography: the same combinations of letters don't always sound the same. (Consider the pronunciation of mint and pint, cough and bough, or clove and love.) The researchers took positron emission tomography (PET) scans of the subjects' brain activity while they took both reading tests and word sound tests. They discovered that whereas the Italian subjects did better on reading tests, they did as poorly as the English and French dyslexics on the word sound tests. All three groups showed the same reduced activation of the left temporal lobe while reading.

The results reinforce the theory that dyslexia arises from some sort of deficit in processing language sounds. "This research proves the existence of a universal neurological basis for dyslexia," says senior author Uta Firth from the Institute of Cognitive Neuroscience at University College London. "It also highlights the impact that the complexity of orthography can have on reading proficiency of dyslexics and therefore on the severity of the disease and the ease of diagnosis. This means that in the Italian population there may be hidden cases of dyslexia. On the other hand, otherwise mild cases of dyslexia may appear far worse in irregular orthographies like that of English or French."

It’s Time to Stand Up for Science

If you enjoyed this article, I’d like to ask for your support. Scientific American has served as an advocate for science and industry for 180 years, and right now may be the most critical moment in that two-century history.

I’ve been a Scientific American subscriber since I was 12 years old, and it helped shape the way I look at the world. SciAm always educates and delights me, and inspires a sense of awe for our vast, beautiful universe. I hope it does that for you, too.

If you subscribe to Scientific American, you help ensure that our coverage is centered on meaningful research and discovery; that we have the resources to report on the decisions that threaten labs across the U.S.; and that we support both budding and working scientists at a time when the value of science itself too often goes unrecognized.

In return, you get essential news, captivating podcasts, brilliant infographics, can't-miss newsletters, must-watch videos, challenging games, and the science world's best writing and reporting. You can even gift someone a subscription.

There has never been a more important time for us to stand up and show why science matters. I hope you’ll support us in that mission.

Thank you,

David M. Ewalt, Editor in Chief, Scientific American