Restoring Neural Oscillatory Communication in Developmental Dyslexia

IRCCS Ospedale San Raffaele

Status: Completed

Conditions: Developmental Dyslexia

Treatments: Device: Parietal tACS combined with visuo-attentional training; Device: Sham (placebo) tACS combined with phonics training; Device: Sham (placebo) tACS combined with visuo-attentional training

Study type: Interventional

Funder types: Other

Identifiers

NCT05583136

NeOsReDy-01

Details and patient eligibility

About

Developmental dyslexia (DD) is a multifactorial disorder that hampers the education of about 10% of individuals across cultures and is associated to both phonological and visual deficits. The latter have been linked to a deficit in the magnocellular-dorsal (M-D) visual stream, that has a critical role in guiding the activity of ventral visual stream areas where letters identity is extracted. Here, we will test the efficacy of transcranial alternate current stimulation (tACS) of the M-D stream combined with reading trainings in adult participants with DD, assessing the neurophysiological underpinnings of these new trainings with EEG and fMRI/DTI.

Enrollment: 78 patients

Sex: All

Ages: 18 to 35 years old

Volunteers: Accepts Healthy Volunteers

Inclusion criteria

• Adult patient (age between 18 and 35)
• Official Diagnosis of Developmental Dyslexia (DD)
• Normal or corrected-to-normal vision and hearing
• Normal motor skills

Exclusion criteria

• Participants that cannot sign the consent form
• Participants unable to read or understand and correctly complete the procedures foreseen by the study
• Participants with a diagnosis or personal history of epilepsy or patients with a positive family history of epilepsy
• Pregnant or breastfeeding patients
• Participants with major psychiatric or neurological disorders and/or currently in psychopharmacological treatments.
• Participants with metal implants in the brain, pacemakers, brain stimulators, cochlear implants.
• Participants with claustrophobia (only for fMRI)

Trial design

Primary purpose: Basic Science

Allocation: Randomized

Interventional model: Parallel Assignment

Masking: Single Blind

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78 participants in 3 patient groups

Group DD1

Experimental group

Description:

tACS + visuo-attentional training

Treatment:

Device: Parietal tACS combined with visuo-attentional training

Group DD2

Active Comparator group

Description:

Sham (placebo) tACS + visuo-attentional training

Treatment:

Device: Sham (placebo) tACS combined with visuo-attentional training

Group DD3

Active Comparator group

Description:

Sham (placebo) tACS + phonics training

Treatment:

Device: Sham (placebo) tACS combined with phonics training