Early emergence of deviant frontal fMRI activity for phonological processes in poor beginning readers.

Phonological awareness refers to the ability to perceive and manipulate the sound structure of language and is especially important when children learn to read. Poor phonological awareness is considered the major cause for the emergence of reading difficulties. In this functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) study, we examined the brain correlates of phonological processing in young beginning readers (aged 8.3+/-0.4 y, 2nd grade) with poor (25th percentile) or normal, age-appropriate reading skills (40th percentile) using a covert reading and mental letter substitution task. Letter substitution in words and nonwords induced pronounced activity in a left frontal language network related…

Audiovisual integration of print and speech emerges when children learn to read: A developmental neuroimaging study