«Be Careful With Words!»: a Preliminary Study of Validation
Matilde Spinoso, Chiara Novelli, Sara Giovagnoli, Sara Magri, Francesca Vetere, Matteo Orsoni, Valentina Lunghi, Samuele Bertani, Lorenzo Bartolini, Mariagrazia Benassi
There is a recent interest in rehabilitation treatments for developmental dyslexia based on executive functions and proposed in computerized mode. This study is part of a larger project aimed at studying the effectiveness of a computerized rehabilitation tools for students with learning difficulties. In the present study we want to evaluate the effects of the Attento alle parole! treatment protocol on reading skills and executive functions. Eight children (two girls and six boys) with developmental dyslexia participated in the research. The training consists of 182 digital games, which can be used independently, lasting 20 minutes each, divided in 16 sessions, lasting globally one month. Before and after the treatment, the ability to read words, non-words lists and text, as well as the executive functions were evaluated by standardized tests (DDE-2, MT and NEPSY-II). The overall results show a significant improvement in non-word lists reading and in the tasks of visual search, inhibition, switching and categorization in most of the subjects involved. The results obtained are promising and underline the importance of carrying out further research with a larger sample and including a control group to confirm the effectiveness of Attento alle parole! evaluating the additional potential of an intervention protocol of two months.
Keywords
Developmental dyslexia, Attention, Reading, Executive functions, Treatment.