A mobile app that uses neurofeedback and multi-sensory learning methods improves reading abilities in dyslexia: A pilot study

Abstract

Reading comprehension is difficult to improve for children with dyslexia because of the continuing demands of orthographic decoding in combination with limited working memory capacity. Children with dyslexia get special education that improves spelling, phonemic and vocabulary awareness, however the latest research indicated that special education does not improve reading comprehension. With the aim of improving reading comprehension, reading speed and all other reading abilities of children with dyslexia, Auto Train Brain that is a novel mobile app using neurofeedback and multi-sensory learning methods was developed. With a clinical study, we wanted to demonstrate the effectiveness of Auto Train Brain on reading abilities. We compared the cognitive improvements obtained with Auto Train Brain with the improvements obtained with special dyslexia training. Auto Train Brain was applied to 16 children with dyslexia 60 times for 30 minutes. The control group consisted of 14 children with dyslexia who did not have remedial training with Auto Train Brain, but who did continue special education. The TILLS test was applied to both the experimental and the control group at the beginning of the experiment and after a 6-month duration from the first TILLS test. Comparison of the pre- and post- TILLS test results indicated that applying neurofeedback and multi-sensory learning method improved reading comprehension of the experimental group more than that of the control group statistically significantly. Both Auto Train Brain and special education improved phonemic awareness and nonword spelling.

Keywords:

• Auto Train Brain
• developmental dyslexia
• multi-sensory learning
• neurofeedback
• special education
• TILLS

Acknowledgments

This is the first research conducted in Turkey in which children with dyslexia between 7 and 10 years old have been treated with mobile phone software. Participants were recruited from TV advertisements and were referred by child neurologists. We are especially grateful to the families who participated in this study; without their dedication and support, we may not have completed it.

Disclosure statement

The authors declare the following financial interests which may be considered as potential competing interests. Auto Train Brain has been developed at Sabancı University laboratories. This work has led to the formation of a company aimed to make Auto Train Brain available to users (www.autotrainbrain.com).

Ethics approval and consent to participate

All the participants gave their informed consent after the experimental procedure was explained to them by guidelines set by the research ethics committee of Sabancı University, and the protocol of the study was approved by the Ethics Committee of Yeditepe University and the clinical trial was registered to the Turkey Pharmaceuticals and Medical Devices Agency (Nbr: 71146310-511.06, 2.11.2018).

Availability of data and material

The datasets generated during and/or analyzed during the current study are available from the corresponding author on reasonable request.

Code availability

None.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the Scientific and Technological Research Council of Turkey (TUBITAK) [Grant No. 2170172] and funded by the Turkish Republic and the European Union.