Wiring the Brain for Reading. Marilee Sprenger

Transcription

1 Wiring the Brain for Reading Marilee Sprenger

2 Reading is an Unnatural Act for the Human Brain! Humans have used oral language for approximately 4 million years. The ability to speak IS hard-wired in the brain. The ability to represent the sounds of language by written symbols has been around for only 4 thousand years. Reading IS NOT hard-wired in the brain. Even though reading is an acquired skill, not a natural process, most people become fluent readers.but.not without a lot of work.

3 All human behaviors are based on multiple cognitive processes which are based on the rapid integration of information from very specific neurological processes, which rely on billions of neurons capable of trillions of possible connections which are programmed largely by genes.

4 BEHAVIOR COGNITIVE PROCESSES INTEGRATION NEUROLOGICAL PROCESSES NEURONS CONNECTIONS GENES

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6 Norman Geschwind Structures in the brain for reading do not develop completely until school age: between five and seven Angular gyrus Some boys develop more slowly

7 Angular gyrus Broca s area Supramarginal gyrus Wernicke s area Primary auditory cortex

8 Myelination Sensory and motor regions are fully myelinated and function independently before the age of five The important structures that underlie our ability to integrate visual, verbal, and auditory information rapidly are not fully myelinated until five and after.

9 BUILDING THE READING BRAIN THE ABILITY TO NAME OBJECTS WHEN A CHILD IS YOUNG, AND THEN TO NAME LETTERS AS THE CHILD AGES, IS A FUNDAMENTAL PREDICTOR OF HOW EFFIEIENTLY THE REST OF THE READING CIRUCUIT WILL DEVELOP OVER TIME. LETTERS = PATTERNS

10 The Foundations of Reading Begins at Birth! The language pathway forms the foundation for the reading pathway, therefore the development of language sets the stage for reading! The fetus has already began to listen to the sounds of the language. At birth, the baby has the neural pathways for over 6000 languages. Infants begin to practice the language long before they begin to speak. Babies are imitators they are scientists in the crib.

11 The Foundations of Reading Begins at Birth! The language pathway forms the foundation for the reading pathway, therefore the development of language sets the stage for reading! The fetus has already began to listen to the sounds of the language. At birth, the baby has the neural pathways for over 6000 languages. Infants begin to practice the language long before they begin to speak. Babies are imitators they are scientists in the crib.

12 1-3 Years,the Language Explosion The early years are a critical period in the development of the child s language skills, especially in the building of vocabulary. This period coincides with the time when synapse formulation and glucose use are at their highest levels in the cortex. 4 years years birth aged At age 2 between 100 and 200 words but spoken in telegraphic speech, short phrases containing basic information. All gone Daddy play ball Between 2 and 3, sentences become longer and they begin to add s for plurals and ed for past tense.

13 Differences in exposure to words over the course of one year Children in Professional Families million Children in Working-Class Families -- 6 million Children in Welfare Families -- 3 million

14 Important Developmental Dynamics The more children are spoken to the more they will understand oral language. The more children are read to, the more they will understand all of the language around them. The more children are read to, the more developed their vocabulary becomes. Maryanne Wolf (2007)

15 Nature vs. Nurture During the first 10 years of life the brain is twice as active as that of an adult s 60% of nutrition is used by the brain during the first year of life. This decreases to 30% by age 3 Genetic and environmental factors have a more dynamic, qualitative interplay that can not be reduced to a simple equation

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18 Logical Details Left Hemisphere Language: speech, grammar, sounds Expressive and receptive language Verbal short term memory Secondary processing of the expression of pleasurable emotion Facts Abstract processing Knowledge Holistic Big Picture Right Hemisphere Language: prosody, tone Sensory image memory Secondary processing of emotional communication: sending of unpleasurable emotional signals; reception of both pleasant and uncomfortable feelings Reading body language Events Concrete processing Emotional significance of knowledge

19 The Reading Brain STEP ONE: Visual information (words & letters) is processed mainly by the right hemisphere STEP TWO: The visual information must be transferred to the left hemisphere through the corpus callosum STEP 3: The visual information must be transformed into language. This is the job of the angular gyrus.

20 Corpus Collosum Angular gyrus

21 The Reading Brain STEP 4: Wernicke s area (a language area) is activated to construct meaning from the text STEP 5:Broca s area (another language area) is activated for motor speech and phonological recoding (sounding out words)

22 Checking Peripheral Vision Creating a frame 1. Stand up 2. Find a focal point 3. Put hands out to side (Wiggle fingers until you see them) 4. Put hands in the air (Wiggle fingers until you see them) 5. Put hands below wiggle, wiggle, wiggle

23 PAYING ATTENTION Cingulate Gyrus 3. Focus on new stimulus 4. Figure out the options Prefrontal Cortex 2. Disengage current focus 5. Shut out competing data Visual Cortex Reticular Activating System 1. Stimulus activates attention

24 Age Focus time Kindergarten 4 6 minutes 1 st grade 5 7 minutes 2 nd grade 6 8 minutes 3 rd grade 7 9 minutes 4 th grade 8 10 minutes 5 th grade 9 11 minutes 6 th grade minutes 7 th grade minutes 8 th grade minutes 9 th grade minutes 10 th grade minutes 11 th grade minutes 12 th grade minutes

25 Emotions are critical to learning -- they drive our attention, health, learning, meaning and memory.

26 Executive brain function Uses working memory Teacher Prompts Attention pay attention to how you are holding your pencil, listen carefully for words that have the ch sound, look at the picture on page 10, pay careful attention to words that tell you how a gecko looks, notice how many nouns there are in this paragraph.

27 Attention and Learning 1. Children pay attention to new information when it is something they need to know, instruction is novel, instruction has intense stimuli, information is meaningful to them, or their emotions are involved 2. Children give new information a test: Does it mean anything to me? Can I recognize anything? Does it make sense? Does it link to anything I already know?

28 Attention and Learning 3. When there are no links to previous learning teachers create experiences and provide mental links to the new learning. 4. Students learn best when they can construct their own learning pathways.

29 Concentration Executive brain function Requires conscious effort to hold in mind Teacher Prompts Direction and pause: Write your name and your partner s name when I say go. Hold in mind: Hold two words that being like giggle in your mind. Tell your partner the words when I raise my hand. Multiple instructions: Open your spelling book to page 23 and get your reading word list. Varying conditions of instruction: whole class, groups, study partners, learning centers.

30 WORKING MEMORY Phonological code:putting info in working memory Information is stored right after reading a text Information is stored as the reader processes the text just read and forms ideas Information that is activated by text or ideas is retrieved from long term memory Information leaves working memory: Fades as text changes to new subjects Displaced if information added exceeds limit

31 Work Working Memory Adults: After 5 weeks of training, brain activity increased (Nature Neuroscience) Children: Working memory workouts showed improvement in a range of cognitive abilities and Higher IQ scores (8%)

32 Auditory Working Memory In as little as five minutes each day increase working memory Repeat back sentences at increasing lengths Visual Spatial Working Memory Use geometric figures Shapes and pictures of increasing complexity Motor Memory Simon Says

33 Procedures Free Working Memory! Anything that can be converted into a procedure: reading, regular routines, rules, and steps allows the brain to focus on other stimuli. When reading is mechanical, there is more energy and space for comprehension. When writing is programmed, there is more space in working memory to put thoughts together and be creative.

34 What graphic organizers provide: A clear and measurable objective (predictability) Several ways to reach it (choice and locus of control) Opportunity to organize and plan (frontal lobe functions) Feedback and dialogue (metacognition/higher level thinking)

35 Vocabulary Word Map Write the word. Write a definition of the word Write a synonym. Write an antonym. Write the word here, in color. Use the word in a sentence that shows its meaning. Draw a picture of the word or draw yourself doing something related to the word. Use color.

36 RESOURCES Reading Strategies That Work by Laura Robb Strategies That Work by Stephanie Harvey Vocabulary Drills by Edward B. Fry Becoming a Wiz at Brain-based Teaching by Sprenger Learning & Memory, The Brain in Action by Sprenger Building the Reading Brain by Wolfe & Neville Proust and the Squid by Maryanne Wolf Bright from the start by Jill Stamm