E-learning Series: A Neural Basis for Reading Impairment (3 part e-learning series)

PLEASE NOTE: Course content only available from 24 June 2022

E-learning online (including recordings and multiple choice questionnaires that you complete in your own time)

Seminar 1: The phonological model of reading impairment (in  your own time)

HPCSA Accreditation Number:  PSB002/022/01/2022 for 3 general ceu’s in Level 1 for attendance

Description:

This is the first course in a three part series to explore the three main neural (brain) models underpinning reading impairment (formerly known as dyslexia) in adults and children. In this first seminar, the neural network underpinning the phonological model is discussed. This model understands poor reading as a disconnection in the neural networks that underpins normal reading, namely the dorsal and ventral pathways, known as the WHERE-WHAT system;  severity is associated with a single or double dissociation in these pathways. Seminal fMRI and PET studies, which formed the basis of this theory are presented. Recent imaging techniques, such as DTI and Tractography have, in part, confirmed a strong structure-function relationship for reading, but highlighted its complexity. The key critiques of this model are considered together with the implications for practise.  This seminar forms the basis to understand the brain models underpinning reading and forms the basis for seminar 2 and 3.

Seminar 2:  The magnocellular theory of reading impairment (in your own time)

HPCSA Accreditation Number: PSB002/060/01/2022 for 3 general ceu’s in Level 1 for attendance.

Description:

This is the second course in a three part series to explore the neural (brain) models underpinning reading impairment (formerly known as dyslexia) in adults and children. In this second seminar, the magnocellular theory is explored in terms of the neuroscience behind the theory; the novel experimentation to isolate the magnocells in the brain, and to elucidate their function in both vision and directing attention. This theory has huge implications for reading impairment, not only for children with visual instability, but also for how we conceptualise attention in reading. This seminar provides a foundation for integrating not only the phonological model of reading impairment, but also to highlight the role of ‘downstream’ neural mechanisms, notably the cerebellum.

Seminar 3:  The cerebellar theory of reading impairment (in your own time)

HPCSA Accreditation Number: PSB002/136/01/2022 for 3 general ceu’s in Level 1 for attendance.

Description:

This course will explore the role of the cerebellum in reading impairment (formerly known as dyslexia). The cerebellum has traditionally been conceptualised as the centre of motor control, balance and coordination. However, more recent evidence indicates that it may also be involved in nonmotor/cognitive functions. Indeed, it is now accepted that the cerebellum plays a key role in most neurocognitive and psychiatric disorders, although the exact mechanisms underpinning these relationships are not yet fully understood. In this presentation, the structure-function relationship of the cerebellum, and how this relates to motor and nonmotor functions in general, and reading in particular, will be explored. The first section will recap the basic anatomy of the cerebellum, describing its somatotopic functional organisation and key neural projections to supratentorial structures. Cerebellar Cognitive Affective Disorder or CCAS will be discussed briefly as an example of the range of cognitive and neuropsychiatric complications that are associated with cerebellar dysfunction. This is followed by a deep-dive into the role of the cerebellum in reading development. The reading network situates phonological decoding within posterior parietal and inferior frontal regions and semantic/orthographic processing within inferior occipito-temporal regions. Key fMRI studies examining a direct cerebellar-cerebral link to these regions are considered, together with neuropsychological models positing an indirect, and more complex relationship, where sensorimotor, language and learning networks contributes differentially to reading skills over developmental time. The last section demonstrates how cerebellar dysfunction can offer a potential causal explanation for both reading impairment in particular and the high comorbidity found in neurodevelopmental disorders in general. We conclude that the cerebellar model of dyslexia has clear implications for how reading impairment is conceptualised, assessed and treated in educational and clinical settings. It provides an integrated framework, based on neuroscience, for the management of reading impairment within a neurodevelopmental context.

Presenter:

Joalida Smit

Neuropsychologist, Clinical Psychologist and Fine Artist

Clinical Psychologist MA Clin Psych (Stell)

Clinical Neuropsychologist MSc Neuropsychology (London, UK)

Diploma in Paediatric Psychology and Neuropsychology (Oxford)