Seminar: Back on Track: A Multi-Component Home-Based Program to Support Children with Dyslexia

Back on Track: A Multi-Component Home-Based Program to Support Children with Dyslexia

Professor Johannes Ziegler
Center of Excellence on Language, Communication, and the Brain (ILCB) 
University of Aix-Marseille 

Date:            October 31, 2025 (Friday)
Time:            12:45 – 14:00
Venue:          Room 703-704, Meng Wah Complex, HKU
Chair:            Professor Shelley Tong

Abstract:
Developmental dyslexia has multiple underlying causes, so effective interventions must target more than one skill. We designed a computer-based training program that strengthens three key processes often impaired in dyslexia: auditory processing, visual attention, and cross-modal integration. In a large clinical trial with 144 children, we found that combining these components produced significant and lasting improvements in reading fluency—especially when visual-attentional training came first. Remarkably, nearly half of the children reached normal reading levels after the program. These results highlight the promise of multifaceted, home-based interventions for supporting children with dyslexia.
 

About the speaker: 
Johannes Ziegler is the director of the Center of Excellence on Language, Communication, and the Brain (ILCB) at the University of Aix-Marseille, France. He is a member of the French National Council for Education (CSEN). Over the past 20 years, his research has focused on the neural and cognitive foundations of reading, cross-linguistic studies of reading acquisition, dyslexia, and computational models of typical and atypical reading. He has published over 160 peer-reviewed articles, including in Science, Psychological Review, Psychological Bulletin, and PNAS. He has also developed and evaluated digital tools (e.g., GraphoGame) to support reading acquisition, particularly for children with learning difficulties. He is a recipient of the CNRS Bronze Medal and a Knight of the French National Order of Merit.
 

~ All are welcome ~
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