TRIAL OF PIRACETAM IN DYSLEXIC SUBTYPES

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The major aims of this project are to assess (1) whether dyslexic children show increased benefit from tutoring when taking the nootropic drug piracetam and (2) whether dyslexics classified as dysphonetic benefit more from the combined intervention than those whose dyslexia stems from other causes. Over three summers (1987, 1988, 1989), 60 carefully chosen dyslexic children aged 9 to 13, will participate in the study (20/summer). The parents of each child meeting inclusion criteria will be given the opportunity to enroll their child in a free 10- week tutoring program provided they will agree to have the child blindly assigned to an active drug or placebo condition during the 10-week period. Half the dyslexic subjects will meet criteria for classification as dysphonetic; the other 30 will not meet these criteria. Half in each of these groups will be randomly allocated to the active drug or placebo condition. All participants will meet a reading specialist (tutor) for two private hourly sessions per week. The tutor will not know which children are receiving the active drug (nor will the parents or investigators), and she will not know whether the investigators have classified the child as dysphonetic or not. Each tutoring session will be structured to include 20 minutes of direct phonetic drill (as outlined by Lynette Bradley, 1984), 20 minutes of practice at reading aloud, and 20 minutes of spelling - word writing instruction. Prior to acceptance into the project the children will be screened with a battery of test to provide baseline data and to assign them to the two dyslexic subgroups. Piracetam will be administered in a syrup containing 0.33 g of piracetam per ml. The child will be given 5 ml of the syrup in the morning before breakfast and 5 ml in the evening before dinner. Placebo will be given in identical fashion. The children will be told the syrup may help them to learn more easily. At the end of the 10 week trial (and while still on medication), the children will be retested on the reading tests from the screening battery.