Biomedical Engineering Reference
In-Depth Information
of a lack of opportunity to learn, it is not solely a result of mental retardation,
and it is not due to any form of acquired brain trauma or disease.” These dis-
orders, on the contrary, derive from anomalies in cognitive processes linked to
a greater extent to some form of biological dysfunction. As with the majority of
other developmental disorders, these conditions are markedly more common
in males.
In Italy, as in other countries, a Consensus Conference was organized (last updated in
April 2011; see the Dislexya Italian Association's website [http://www.aiditalia.org/]) to
establish further shared guidelines regarding diagnostic criteria (completed with the nec-
essary neuropsychological investigations) and the professionals involved in multidisci-
plinary teams responsible for evaluation, providing indications for management. With
regard to the latter, there are two principal routes that may, depending on the case in hand,
be alternative or parallel. These are
1. A strictly rehabilitational route, which will aim to
• Recover the deicit (the neurocognitive deicit underlying the disorder). For
example, in line with the points previously illustrated, it would be useful in
the diagnostic process to clarify the level at which the “breaking point” is
located, whether this may be linguistic, visuoperceptual, or linked to atten-
tional resources, and to take this as the basis for rehabilitation using the appro-
priate tools;
a n d/o r
• Work directly on the task in itself (for instance, reading). An approach to reha-
bilitation centered on the task of reading, taking into consideration the context
and type of orthography in which it is located (more or less transparent), again
in this case should be specific and targeted and should work on single aspects
in accordance with the two-way model of reading (Coltheart 1987; Shallice
1988; Zorzi 2005) such as visual analysis, grapheme-phoneme conversion,
metaphonological analysis, and phonemic synthesis, with regard to sublexi-
cal reading
(phonological decoding), and the construction of an orthographic
lexicon with (for example) tachistoscopic presentation of words with grow-
ing complexity of the phonotactic structure, by lexical reading. For each of the
aspects listed, numerous types of specific rehabilitational software are avail-
able (see, for example, Abledata.com [http://www.abledata.com], or EASTIN
[http://www.eastin.info]).
The aim of this approach to rehabilitation is not the complete remission of the
symptoms, which would be unrealistic, but the achievement of a level of mastery
of the process sufficient to enable compatibility with autonomous study. On the
other hand, even in relation to writing in general, it is possible to reach a level of
control of the process permitting effective written communication, clear from a
morphosyntactic point of view, even if orthographical errors are likely to be pres-
ent. The likelihood of attaining these objectives is greater the earlier the moment
of diagnosis and the more targeted and specific the approach to rehabilitation. In
some cases, rehabilitation as described above may not reach the set objectives on
account of numerous variables (aside from delayed diagnosis and intervention, i.e.,
at over 9 years of age), including the severity of the disorder. This severity depends
on the level to which the affected individual function is compromised and how
