Research Symposium

BIO

Kendall Knapp is a first-year undergraduate student at Florida State University pursuing a Bachelor of Science in Cell and Molecular Neuroscience. Originally from Scottsdale, Arizona, she is passionate about neuroscience research and its applications to oncology and medicine. She is currently contributing to a research project under the mentorship of Dr. Richard Wagner and Dr. Dorota Kossowska-Kuhn, conducting a meta-analysis on developmental dyslexia. This work focuses on identifying the most commonly studied traits associated with developmental dyslexia across existing scientific literature. Through her academic and research experiences, Kendall hopes to deepen her understanding of the biological mechanisms underlying neurological and cognitive disorders. Following completion of her undergraduate degree, she plans to attend medical school and pursue a career as a physician.

Meta-Analysis of Dyslexia Indicators

Abstract

Developmental Dyslexia is a multifaceted neurobiological learning disorder that is characterized by a large array of symptoms that vary in severity from case-to-case. Primarily caused by phonological deficits, which has a significant effect on word level reading and spelling; though secondary deficits are also observed in reading comprehension, vocabulary, and background knowledge that could be traced to the foundational phonological deficit. With this study, our research question is how does the prevalence of the traits of dyslexia correlate with one another? This research is vital to provide an improved common understanding of the disorder, as well as identify deficits that correspond with one another for easier identification of developmental dyslexia in children for early intervention. Utilizing the program Covidence, a model-based meta- analysis will be done using research articles and dissertations sourced by PRISMA. Sorting through approximately 9,000 papers, screening first distinguished appropriate abstracts, then full text review was done. Currently 2155 studies are approved for data extraction to be used for the model-based meta-analysis, but due to how expansive this study is, results have yet to be established. Expected results are the correlations of the prevalence of dyslexia symptoms to one another. This study in the future will provide a clearer understanding of symptom correlation with developmental dyslexia, which in turn can improve the diagnosis of dyslexia, as well as reading intervention programs that aid in improvement in observed deficits.

Keywords: Psychology, Neuroscience, Biology