Why our kids can’t read.
Even the best literacy remediation won’t work if the brain doesn’t authentically hear sound.
Unreliable representation of sound in the auditory nervous system will impede language development and literacy. This phenomenon can happen to any child regardless of age, sex, attention, IQ, and/or socioeconomic status. Many insist on attaching labels for reading disorders like dyslexia, reading disability, reading disorder, specific reading disorder, and specific reading comprehension deficit. Some dice it even smaller by defining the type of reading disorder (e.g. word decoding, fluency, phonological deficit, and/or poor reading comprehension). But they all have one thing in common…unstable neural representation of sound along the auditory pathway.
Why is this so important?
Without a stable neural representation of sound, children cannot make the sound-to-meaning connections necessary for the development of language and reading skills. Specifically, the neural processing of speech in the presence of noise must be precisely timed for the brain to authentically hear what is being said.
What does that mean?
Auditory system precision is necessary for the brain to hear important aspects of sound. Three aspects of auditory processing associated with literacy are the precision of neuronal firing along the auditory pathway, timing within the system, and the ability to process detailed acoustic features. Unless a child experiences hearing loss, they should have full access to the sounds of their environment. Yet, we live in a noisy world and many of those everyday experiences are in the presence of background noise which requires a child to “tune-out” competing sounds in order to “tune-in” to speech.
Background noise places greater demands on an already immature auditory nervous system and limits access to redundant acoustic cues that are accessible to listeners in quiet. Auditory precision, especially the neural processing of speech in noise, is directly correlated with literacy. The ability to measure the neural synchrony of neuronal firing in the presence of background noise is correlated directly to literacy and when tested, can predict those children at risk early.
Why don’t we universally test children?
Hearing loss is one of the leading birth defects among infants and early intervention for these kids change the trajectory of their lives. What was once thought as a crazy idea is now mandated legislation in all 50 states and known as Universal Newborn Hearing Screenings (UNHS).
UNHS identify 1-3 infants per 1,000 with a moderate-to-profound hearing loss but we miss many with mild hearing loss. Screening technology is designed to identify a hearing loss 35dB or greater which is considered a mild hearing loss for infants and children. In addition, many will develop hearing loss for numerous reasons (e.g., genetics, syndromes, prematurity, viruses and infections during pregnancy, infections a baby has after birth, problems with the way the ears, head and face develop, etc.). Passing the UNHS is certainly not a pass for the rest of life – not even the first 3-5 years. The Centers for Disease Control’s (CDC) data suggests approximately 15 percent of children in our public schools have some type of hearing loss.
In 1975, the Individuals with Disabilities Act’s (IDEA) passed legislation that all public schools must identify, locate and evaluate any child who needs special education. This aspect of IDEA is called “Child Find.” Part C is defined as early intervention (birth to 3 years) and Part B relates to school aged children (3-21 years).
I believe many children have been unidentified and/or misdiagnosed. This means they will not receive the targeted intervention necessary to live life to their fullest potential. It also means they will struggle to learn to read which puts them at risk for dropping out of school and becoming a part of the penal system.
We owe our kids more. The research shows we are missing and misdiagnosing a huge number of children in our schools.
Demand better for you kids.
