| Since about 1970, new research has
helped brain scientists understands these problems better. Scientists now know
there are many different kinds of learning disabilities and that they are caused
by many different things. There is no longer any question that all learning
disabilities result from differences in the way the brain is organized. You can'
t look at a child and tell if he or she has a learning disability. There is no
outward sign of the disorder. So some researchers began looking at the brain
itself to learn what might be wrong. In one study, researchers examined the brain of a learning disabled person who had died in an accident. They found two unusual things. One involved cells in the left side of the brain, which control language. These cells normally are white. In the learning disabled person, however, these ceils were gray. The researchers also found that many of the nerve ceils were not in a line the way they should have been. The nerve cells were mixed together. The study was carried out under the guidance of Norman Geschwind, an early expert on learning disabilities. Doctor Geschwind proposed that learning disabilities mainly resultes from problems in the left side of the brain. He believed this side of the brain failed to develop normally. Probably, he said, nerve cells there didn't connect as they should. So the brain was like an electrical device in which the wires were crossed. Other researchers didn't examine brain tissue. Instead, they measured the brain's electrical activity and made a map of the electrical signals. Frank Dully experimented with this technique at Children's Hospital Medical Center in Boston. Dr. Duffy found large differences in the brain activity of normal children and those with reading problems. The differences appeared throughout the brain. Dr. Dully said his research is evidence that reading disabilities involve damage to a wide area of the brain, not just the left side. |