NASHVILLE, Tenn. – Vanderbilt University is seeking participants for
the first phase of a study to learn more about brain activity in
children with math or reading disabilities. The ultimate goal of the
study, "Remediating Students’ Mathematics Disabilities," is to overcome
math disability and to examine how brain functioning changes with
remediation.
"The first phase is to map brain activity in third- and fourth-grade
students as they are working on math tasks," project director Lynn
Fuchs said. Fuchs is the Nicholas Hobbs Chair in Special Education and
Human Development and a Vanderbilt Kennedy Center investigator. "We
want to compare four groups of students: children without reading and
math problems, those with math problems only, those with reading
problems only and those with both math and reading problems."
The study’s brain imaging component is being led by John Gore,
Chancellor’s University Professor of Biomedical Engineering and
Radiology and director of the Vanderbilt Institute of Imaging Science,
and Adam Anderson, associate professor of biomedical engineering. Both
Gore and Anderson are Vanderbilt Kennedy Center investigators.
Students will be evaluated at no cost to see if they are eligible to
take part in the study. Families whose children take part in the study
will be compensated for their time.
The study is funded by the National Institute of Child Health and
Human Development. The Vanderbilt Kennedy Center for Research on Human
Development is a national research, training, diagnosis and treatment
institute on developmental disabilities.
For information on participating in the study, call Erin Caffrey at 615-322-8291 by July 1.
Media contact: Jan Rosemergy, (615) 322-8240
Jan.rosemergy@vanderbilt.edu