A different finding on the role of cerebro-cerebellar RSFC in reading skills among Chinese children with developmental dyslexia.

BACKGROUND

It's still unclear on the effect of the cerebellum on developmental dyslexia (DD). To narrow the gap, we compared the cerebro-cerebellar resting-state functional connectivity (RSFC) between children with and without DD, and analyzed the relationship of cerebro-cerebellar RSFC with reading skills.

METHODS

43 children with DD (32 males, mean age = 9.21 years) and 82 typical development (TD) children (47 males, mean age = 8.96 years) were recruited from China. All participants completed rs-fMRI scan and reading tasks including phonological awareness, rapid automatized naming, and orthography awareness. Cerebro-cerebellar RSFC were compared between children with and without DD. And the correlations between cerebro-cerebellar RSFC and reading skills were analyzed in all subjects.

RESULTS

Compared to the TD group, Chinese children with DD showed significantly increased RSFC between cerebellar vermis IX and right superior frontal gyrus, and between cerebellar vermis IX and left middle frontal gyrus. The RSFC between vermis IX and right superior frontal gyrus was correlated with response time of rapid automatized naming (r = 0.198, p = 0.028) and phonological awareness score (r = -0.288, p = 0.002). And the RSFC between vermis IX and left middle frontal gyrus was also correlated with response time of rapid automatized naming (r = 0.223, p = 0.013) and phonological awareness score (r = -0.182, p = 0.048).

CONCLUSION

Chinese children with DD showed increased RSFC between the vermal cerebellum and bilateral frontal gyrus. It may potentially compensate for their phonological awareness and rapid automatized naming deficits.