By Dr. M.Estaki (Esteki), Assistant Professor, Azad University

Background: The lack of success in acquiring reading skills in early school years, can deeply prevent students from achieving in most other educational subjects. Research shows that most children with reading and learning complications suffer from problems in auditory processing. It may therefore be suitable for those who have reading difficulties to be treated with sound therapy. This study aimed to assess the effect of sound therapy with Forbrain on reading skills and auditory discrimination for students with reading difficulties.

Method: This study was a quasi-experimental design with a pre-posttest and control group. The sample group was 20 students who were studying in elementary school (second and third grade). They were selected by the available sampling method and assigned randomly to two experimental and control groups. Data were collected by the Reading & Dyslexia Test (Karami nori & Moradi 1378) and Wepman auditory discrimination test (WADT 1987). After the pre-test, the experimental group for 20 sessions was trained by sound therapy with Forbrain while the control group received no intervention. Then, the subjects of the two groups were tested by post-test. The statistical models were the Analyze of Covariance (ANCOVA). 

Results: In the post-test, the mean of reading skills (p= 0.000< 0.001), and auditory discrimination (p=0.000< 0.001) in the experimental group decreased significantly. This difference also was significant for all subscales of reading skills except Rhyme and Reading non-words (p=0.07, 0.96).

Conclusion: The findings show that sound therapy with Forbrain has a significant effect on reading skills and auditory discrimination in students with reading difficulties.

See the full report here