Even before a child learns to read, a quick biological test may be able to identify if she or he will have literacy challenges or learning disabilities.
The study, published in PLOS Biology, centers on the child’s ability to decipher speech—specifically consonants—in a chaotic, noisy environment. Preliterate children whose brains inefficiently process speech against a background of noise are more likely than their peers to have trouble with reading and language development when they reach school age, the researchers find.
This newfound link between the brain’s ability to process spoken language in noise and reading skill in pre-readers “provides a biological looking glass into a child’s future literacy,” says study senior author Nina Kraus, director of Northwestern University’s Auditory Neuroscience Laboratory.
