The common perception, or misconception, of video games is that it leads to violence. There are many different points one could make for either side of the fence, but that is a debate for another time. In the meantime, a new study has shown the by playing action-packed video games, it can actually help dyslexic children learn how to read. Dyslexia has been referred to as a disorder of the brain and there is no fixed method to help “cure” it. One of the trademarks of dyslexia is attentional dysfunction which is referred to by researchers. Basically what means is that dyslexics will find it hard to focus their attention and pick out important information.
As the saying goes, practice makes perfect and a group of Italian researchers were wondering if that could apply to children suffering from dyslexia. What they did was immerse these kids in an activity that would force them to focus their attention, namely action-packed video games where there were many things happening all at once. The researchers took twenty dyslexic children and got them to play a Wii game called Rayman Raving Rabbids for 12 hours over a course of 9 days.
The children were split into two groups where one group played “active” games, while the other played “non-active” games, and the ones that played the active games were found to have significant improvements in their reading ability, such as being able to read faster and more accurately. While it might be a while before video games become the preferred treatment for dyslexia, it marks and important progress in the study of the disorder and is probably welcome news to parents who have children with dyslexia.
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