Supplement for Sikoya Ashburn to "An fMRI Study on the Neural Basis of Combined Math and Reading Disability"

 描述(由申请人提供)：数学障碍(MD)和阅读障碍(RD)在个人和社会层面上都有很大的负面影响。两者共存(MD+RD)是一个更大的挑战，是研究人员和实践者迫切需要解决的问题。在患有MD+RD的儿童中，成功的数学和阅读干预的神经关联尚不清楚，但这些知识将为MD+RD及其补救提供重要的见解。我们将调查阅读和数学干预引起的大脑变化，并测试阅读和基于提取的算术的假设，因为语言中介，都通过阅读干预得到加强。使用我们之前研究中使用的功能磁共振成像(FMRI)方法，我们建议检查大脑中的以下区域：(I)阅读，(Ii)言语调节，基于检索的算术(小数加法)，以及(Iii)基于程序的算术(减法)。48名患有MD+RD的儿童将在两个阶段的强化辅导之前和之后进行研究：数学之后是阅读干预，反之亦然。在每一次干预之后，我们将通过神经心理测量和基于大脑的变化(阅读和基于检索/基于程序的数学任务中的活动，休息状态连接和大脑解剖)来检查阅读和数学表现。我们的第一个目标是测试阅读干预是否不仅带来了阅读方面的收益(伴随着阅读过程中左脑大脑活动的增加)，而且还带来了数学成绩的提高，以及这些阅读干预引发的数学变化是否也在语言辅助的相同左半球区域的基于提取的算术中引发了增加。我们还预计，数学干预会增加标准化和实验性的数学测量，同时增加大脑活动，这一次是在基于程序的算术过程中的右半球顶叶皮质。因此，我们将通过操作干预类型和功能磁共振任务来测试语言调解在MD+RD补救中的作用。我们将使用分析技术，使我们能够在干预之前和之后评估脑-行为和脑-脑关系。在我们的第二个目标中，我们将测试干预前阅读和数学任务中的大脑活动是否可以预测阅读和数学技能的提高，假设左侧顶叶下皮质在发出信号传递口头中介的“准备”以最大限度地从任何一种干预中受益方面发挥关键作用。在第三个目标中，我们将把干预前任务的功能磁共振数据与之前在患有RD和对照的儿童中获得的相同类型的数据合并在一起。在这个120人的样本中，我们将研究阅读、语音和数学技能的神经心理测量与阅读和数学过程中的大脑活动之间的关系。这将允许我们使用更广泛的连续体来测试上面描述的数学、语言和大脑功能之间的关系。总而言之，这些目标通过解决数学学习、数学障碍、语言对数学的影响以及干预诱导的神经生物学可塑性，直接符合FOA PA-12-248。

 DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): Math disability (MD) and reading disability (RD) have a significant negative impact at the individual and societal levels. Co-existence of the two (MD+RD) is an even greater challenge and presents an urgent problem for researchers and practitioners to address. The neural correlates of successful math and reading interventions in children with comorbid MD+RD are unknown, yet this knowledge would provide important insights into MD+RD and its remediation. We will investigate reading- and math-specific intervention-induced brain changes and test the hypothesis that reading and retrieval-based arithmetic, because verbally mediated, are both strengthened through reading intervention. Using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) methods employed in our prior studies, we propose to examine brain areas that subserve (i) reading, (ii) verbally mediated, retrieval- based arithmetic (addition of small numbers), and (iii) procedural-based arithmetic (subtraction). Forty-eight children with MD+RD will be studied prior to and following two periods of intensive tutoring: math followed by reading intervention, or vice versa. Following each intervention, we will examine reading and math performance via neuropsychological measures and brain-based changes (activity during reading and retrieval- based/procedural-based math tasks, resting state connectivity, and brain anatomy). Our first Aim is to test whether reading intervention brings about gains not only in reading (concomitant with left hemisphere increases in brain activity during reading), but also in math performance, and that these reading-intervention- induced changes in math also elicit increases during retrieval-based arithmetic in the same left hemisphere regions subserved by language. We also expect that math intervention results in gains on standardized and experimental measures of math along with increased brain activity, this time in right hemisphere parietal cortex during procedural-based arithmetic. As such, we will test the role of language mediation in the remediation of MD+RD by manipulating both the type of intervention and the fMRI tasks. We will employ analysis techniques that will allow us to assess brain-behavioral and brain-brain relationships prior to and following interventions. In our second Aim, we will test whether brain activity during reading and math tasks prior to the interventions predicts the improvements in reading and math skills, with the hypothesis that left inferior parietal cortex plays a critical role in signaling a verbally mediated "readiness" to maximally benefit from either intervention. In a third Aim, we will pool the fMRI data on tasks prior to the intervention with the same type of data previously acquired in children with RD and controls. In this sample of 120, we will examine relationships between neuropsychological measures of reading, phonological, and math skills, with brain activity during reading and math. This will allow us to test relationships described above between math, language, and brain function using a wider continuum. Together, these aims directly fit FOA PA-12-248 by addressing math learning, math disabilities, language influence on math, and intervention-induced neurobiological plasticity.