Skilled readers are often able to make sense of words suffering from ‘typos’ and jumbled up letter orders as long as the beginning and end letters of the words are correct. But a study at the University of Leicester suggests that young developing readers also have a similar understanding of how these outside letters can […]
Dyslexia
Dyscalculia: Burdened by blunders with numbers
Between 3 and 6% of schoolchildren suffer from an arithmetic-related learning disability. Researchers at Ludwig-Maximilians-Universitaet (LMU) in Munich now show that these children are also more likely to exhibit deficits in reading and spelling than had been previously suspected. Addition and subtraction, multiplication and division are the four basic operations in arithmetic. But for some […]
Childhood stress reduced by natural-terrain schoolyards
Playing in schoolyards that feature natural habitats and trees and not just asphalt and recreation equipment reduces children’s stress and inattention, according to a University of Colorado Boulder study. Working on class assignments or gardening in such settings also provide stress-reducing benefits for youth, according to a paper published in the journal Health & Place. […]
Researcher gives new meaning to semantics in reading
For years a key way of diagnosing dyslexia has been how well a person reads aloud. Similarly, the reading skills of adult readers also have been assessed by having them read words aloud. “The idea is that the more you read in English, the more you will encounter words that don’t follow standard rules of […]
The same genes influence children’s reading and math abilities
A study observing the genetic basis of cognitive traits, led by scientists from the University of Oxford and King’s College London, finds that about 50% of genes that have an influence on a child’s reading ability, also have an affect on their mathematics aptitude. Complex cognitive traits such as reading and mathematics are highly heritable […]