Rhythm and dyslexia

Have you ever wondered what the connection between music and dyslexia might be? Researchers in Italy have provided a good description of the connection.

“Since music and language share common mechanisms and the core deficit underlying dyslexia has been identified in difficulties in dynamic and rapidly changing auditory information processing, it has been argued that enhancing basic musical rhythm perception skills in children with dyslexia may have a positive effect on reading abilities.”

Let’s look at the first part of the statement. One of the biggest breakthroughs in understanding the connection between music and language development is the identification of the overlapping neural network that both music and language processing use.

The discovery of this overlapping network has also helped us understand the conditions, learning disorders and processing difficulties that occur when this overlapping network isn’t functioning in the typical kind of way. One of those disorders is dyslexia and a series of studies point to a foundational aspect of the disorder resulting from issues with auditory processing.

The second part of the statement points to the idea, which this study tested, of using music rhythm perception skills to assist children with dyslexia, with their reading. If you read the abstract, the initial results were promising.

In a search for the follow-up studies, we found a clinical trial commenced in 2017 and in 2018 another paper looking into the application of the Rhythmic Reading Training tool was reported on. They had some interesting results with the tool, finding that rhythmic abilities did not predict reading accuracy, however, the research suggests that they may predict reading speed. Research keeps evolving, that is what is fantastic about it, and we will continue to watch this space for you.