Angelica Benson, Centre Director for Double Bay Learning Centre Dyslexia And The Imagery-Language Connection: Theory, Research, Practice
Thursday, 27 June 2019
Based on over 30 years of instructional experience with 45,000 at-risk readers, we know that the imagery-language connection is critical to language comprehension and word reading (Lindamood-Bell Learning Processes, 2017). Imagery is a basic sensory-cognitive function connecting us to the language we hear and the print we read. There are two types of imagery—symbol and concept—intrinsic to word reading, orthographic processing, and reading comprehension. This presentation examines the effect of imagery-based, sensory-cognitive instruction on word reading and comprehension in children with reading difficulties, including those previously diagnosed with dyslexia. A consistent, repeated finding is that students with reading difficulties have shown significant word reading and comprehension improvements with imagery-based sensory-cognitive instruction. These results are observed in an analysis of students' pre-post data disaggregated by the United Kingdom, the United States, and Australia. Neurological research further validates the imagery-language connection resulting in lasting effects on word attack, word recognition, comprehension and specific areas of brain function in students with dyslexia (Eden et al., 2004, Oulade et al., 2013, Krafnick et al., 2015, Murdaugh et al., 2015, Murdaugh & Maximo et al., 2015, Christodoulou et al., 2015, Romeo et al., 2017, Huber et al., 2018). Supported by Dual Coding Theory (Paivio, 1979), key research findings, and 33 years of instructional experience, this session reveals that imagery is a primary sensory-cognitive power source that can be developed and brought to consciousness for reading independence in children, including struggling readers, and those previously diagnosed with dyslexia.
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