The Effectiveness of Biofeedback on Improving Reading Performance and Visual-Motor Perception in Children with Dyslexia

Dyslexia as a common developmental disorder in childhood can seriously impair the educational process of students and according to the previous studies, biofeedback can help these children manage those issues. This study sought to investigate the effectiveness of biofeedback on improving reading performance and visual-motor perception in children with dyslexia.

This was a quasi-experimental study with a pretest-posttest and a control group design. The statistical population included all 8-12 year old male students with dyslexia referred to learning disorders centers in the 3rd district of Tehran in 2019; from which 24 people were selected by the available sampling method according to the inclusion and exclusion criteria and were randomly assigned to the experimental group (n=12) and the control group (n=12). Instruments used in this study included the Reading and Dyslexia Test (Nema) (Kormi Nouri and Moradi, 2005) and the Bender Visual-Motor Gestalt Test (Bender, 1938). The intervention group underwent 30 sessions of 45-minutes biofeedback intervention program, while the control group received only the usual training of learning disorders centers. Data were analyzed using analysis of covariance in the SPSS-22 software.

The results of data analysis showed that biofeedback improved the reading performance of children with dyslexia. This method reduced the shape error, composition eror, rotation error, continuity error, and thus improved the visual-motor perception of children with dyslexia (p <0.01). 

Biofeedback method can use the principles of factor conditioning learning to change and improve brain waves, strengthen self-regulation skills, improve brain function and thus improve reading performance and visual-motor perception in children with dyslexia.