Word: tallal
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That in itself would be an important breakthrough. This form of language impairment afflicts up to 8% of otherwise normal children, most of whom go on to develop intractable problems with reading and writing. But Tallal and her colleagues take their findings one step further, and in doing so have aroused intense scientific controversy. They believe the same language-processing "glitch" may be the root of the more common problem of dyslexia, a reading disability that affects perhaps 15% of the population. If so, games like those that Keillan played could help at least some dyslexics whose impairment makes...
...schoolwork. Then, last summer, Keillan, along with 21 other language-impaired children, was enrolled in an experimental program at Rutgers University in Newark, New Jersey, in which the kids improved their auditory skills by playing computer games. The change in Keillan and the others was so remarkable, says Paula Tallal, co-director of the Center for Molecular and Behavioral Neuroscience at Rutgers, that even the scientists were stunned. After just four weeks of therapy, Tallal and her colleagues report in a recent issue of the journal Science, youngsters who were performing well below age level had jumped as much...
...such a debilitating learning disorder really be remedied by playing games? Other experts, while praising Tallal's work as provocative and challenging, remain skeptical. Tallal, they point out, has not yet demonstrated that her therapy is effective for the broader population of dyslexics. But as Yale University's Dr. Sally Shaywitz, a behavioral pediatrician, acknowledges, "We don't need to speculate. We can carry out studies that answer this question...
...thing in common: although they are of at least average intelligence, tests showed that they frequently had difficulty distinguishing among phonemes (the basic building blocks of language), especially those that begin with hard consonants like b, d and p. "There is nothing wrong with their ears," says Tallal. "They can hear these sounds, but the auditory centers of the brain can't process them...
...reason: the presence of large Greek communities in Arab countries. But to the Greeks, increasingly angry over the terrorist habit of using Athens as a convenient hunting ground (six incidents in five years), this most recent atrocity was the breaking point. The two captives -Shaif al Arid, 22, and Tallal Kantourah, 21, both from Jordan-were quickly indicted for premeditated murder. They face the death penalty, which in Greece is by firing squad...