The 1353rd meeting of the Connecticut Academy was held on Wednesday, September 22, 2004 at 5.00 p.m. at the New Haven Lawn Club. After a short cocktail period for some 60 members and their guests, the evening program commenced. Dr. Ernest Kohorn, the President, welcomed the group and announced the election of new members: John R.Cavaliere, Conservator of art objects, New Haven, Robert H.Smith,Jr., Attorney, Robinson and Cole, Hartford and Robert Touloukian, M.D. Professor of Pediatric Surgery and Pediatrics, Yale University. Dr. Ernest Kohorn then introduced the speakers for the evening, Dr. Sally and Dr. Bennett Shaywitz, professors of Pediatrics at the Child Study Center at Yale.

The title of the Shaywitz's presentation was "The Science of Reading: Overcoming Dyslexia." Dr. Sally Shaywitz spoke first and said that there were many smart people who have trouble reading. Since all the equipment was there - motivation, instruction and intelligence, how was it that there were these"unexpected difficulties?"  The ability to read has always been considered to be associated with intelligence and this has led to much pain for those with difficulty. What is true is that dyslexics have to work much harder to achieve than do their "normal" peers and that they do not outgrow it. What we now understand are the mechanisms and the physiology of the defects in the language system which are at the base of the problem and this has led to early identification and the development of remedial instruction.

In a longitudinal study of dyslexics in Connecticut some 445 children were tracked from kindergarten through 12th grade. Of those some were now at Yale and some were in jail! One in 5 children is affected and in each class of 25, 4 or 5 children will be struggling. It is the inability to link sounds with letters that underlies the difficulty and causes errors such as "Presbyterians for pedestrians" and "recession for reception." The parts of the brain used in processing the linking differs in dyslexics.

Dr. Bennett Shaywitz, who is also a neurologist, then described the brain system involved in reading. In 1892, Dr. Dejernie identified regions of the brain associated with reading. Today magnetic resonance imaging show the same regions.  It is the left occipital temporal region that is important for skilled reading and is essential for the synthesis of understanding the written word. It is the disruption of the posterior reading system that occurs in the poor reader, however the brain system is plastic and other systems can be used to compensate.

In a study that teased out different variables in a group of impaired readers the conclusion was that there are several different types of learning disabilities, that the cause is one third genetic and two thirds environmental and that among the poor readers the posterior brain systems were not used either because of low verbal ability or because of poor schooling.

Dr. Sally Shaywitz then concluded the presentation with her suggestions for closing the gap between good and poor readers. She said that we are entering a new era in education and that change should be driven by science and not philosophy. With repetition and practice phonemic connections will eventually become automatic and lead to the development of effective neural systems. Children must be taught phonemic awareness, phonic skills, fluency, vocabulary and comprehension. Early intervention is of essence and teachers should be knowledgeable in  evidenced based methods. The dyslexic needs extra time to function just as a diabetic needs insulin. Finally Dr. Shaywitz quoted the head of Cardiology at the Cleveland Clinic as saying he had had a terrible time learning French but then went from C's and D's to CEO!