Our long term goal is to develop an effective training regime for auditory-based learning disabilities. The goal of the proposed study is to further understand the role of brainstem timing in auditory processing and literacy. Specifically, we are interested in the functional relations between brainstem and cortical processing, auditory processing and literacy in children with reading disability. We will characterize the auditory processing profile of children with reading disability and abnormal brainstem timing. Consequently, a perceptual training paradigm will be used to test the hypothesis that brainstem timing can be improved. We will also test the hypothesis that such training will generalize to speech perception and literacy related skills. Auditory evoked potentials and behavioral performance will be measured before and after behavioral training and compared between reading disabled children with normal and abnormal brainstem timing and normal learning children. We expect that training will result in changes in both cortical and brainstem function as well as in behavioral measures relating to brainstem timing. This study will thus result in better understanding of the physiological basis of learning disability and of the organization of the auditory system. ? ? ?
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