The function of reading is accomplished by the eyes seeing the letters as symbols of sound. Then, letters are processed and connected to sound by the Wernicke’s area at the back, left side of the brain in the temporal lobe. Finally, the Broca’s area in the front left side in the frontal lobe is engaged to form speech, thereby sounding the word out, or reading.
It was once a prevailing common belief that the brain, once formed to adulthood, remained static and was unable to adapt, change, or “grow.” This idea has been disproven by modern researchers. Neuroplasticity refers to the malleability or flexibility of the brain to make changes. It is also called simply, plasticity. It has been shown that the specific neurons (nerve cells) of the brain are able to change how they function as they respond to a stimulus of new activity or environment. Furthermore, this amazing ability of the brain to reorganize itself and form new remains continuous throughout an individual’s life.
The unifying commonality for all struggling readers is that there are too few activation points within the Wernicke’s center of the brain. The Loftier Learning Program for Reading overcomes this through a reliance on the brain’s plasticity. The brain’s special ability to build new neural networks, or reform old ones compensates for the damage (so-called) in the locus of cells in the temporal lobe (near the top of it). Researchers have identified gaps in the grid of neurons there. This classic type of dyslexia is called dysphonesia, or auditory dyslexia. It literally means that there are two few activation points in that locus of cells in the temporal lobe (Wernicke’s area). This means that there is a sound comprehension problem. The problem is not in hearing the noise, but in recognizing what the noise is, that it is linked to the symbol of the letter shape. Our students associate the noise with a visual cue which becomes imprinted in the brain, developing the sound center in the Wernicke’s area of the brain. As the student acts in response to these cues the brain is busy creating connections and reorganizing in the specific area of need.
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This program creates the needed activation points within the dyslexic brain. This program builds a sound bank by allowing the student to re-program their own brain through visual prompts. Repetition of sound does nothing toward a remediation of the Wernicke’s area of a Dyslexic student’s brain. The only way a student can create a permanent sound center, in record time, in their own brain is that the stimulus is going across the synaptic gap of the student.
“When the student lets the right noise come out, after positioning his mouth correctly, it is a sure sign that the stimulus is going across the synaptic gap for permanent memory.”
– Bonnie Wilde, creator of the Loftier Literacy Program for Reading
ASPIRE Reading Therapy 