Animal models of developmental dyslexia

As some critics have stated, the term developmental dyslexia refers to a strictly human disorder, relating to a strictly human capacity - reading - so it cannot be modeled in experimental animals, much less so in lowly rodents. However, two endophenotypes associated with developmental dyslexia are eminently suitable for animal modeling: Cerebral Lateralization, as illustrated by the association between dyslexia and non-righthandedness, and Cerebrocortical Dysfunction, as illustrated by the described abnormal structural anatomy and/or physiology and functional imaging of the dyslexic cerebral cortex. This paper will provide a brief review of these two endophenotypes in human beings with developmental dyslexia and will describe the animal work done in my laboratory and that of others to try to shed light on the etiology of and neural mechanisms underlying developmental dyslexia. Some thought will also be given to future directions of the research.

Automated summary

This paper provides a brief review of two endophenotypes associated with developmental dyslexia, namely cerebral lateralization and cerebrocortical dysfunction, and describes the animal work done to shed light on the etiology and neural mechanisms of developmental dyslexia. It also considers future directions of research.