Studies on Deaf Children may Help Decode Dyslexia

Doctors have known for some time that those with dyslexia see words differently. For example, the word “button” may appear as “tutbno” to those with dyslexia. But a new study involving deaf children suggests that people with dyslexia may hear words differently, too. Nearly a decade ago, researchers at Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center began following more than a hundred deaf children who got cochlear implants to help them hear. Though the implants provide a somewhat muffled sound, they work, allowing children who were born deaf to hear. But then researchers noticed something else. The same children who got cochlear implants, also showed signs of dyslexia, which may suggest that hearing may have more to do with this dyslexia than anyone ever thought.