Research Symposium

BIO

Isabella Erb is a first-year undergraduate student at Florida State University majoring in Biological Sciences on the pre-med track. Originally from Saint Johns, Florida, she is interested in neurobiology and reproductive health and is motivated to broaden her understanding across many areas of medicine. Bella is currently involved in a large-scale meta-analysis examining developmental dyslexia, a neurobiological learning disorder primarily associated with phonological deficits that affect reading and spelling. Her work focuses on analyzing existing research to better understand how different dyslexia-related traits and symptoms correlate with one another, with the goal of contributing to improved identification and earlier intervention for children with dyslexia. Through this project, she has gained experience in literature review, research screening using Covidence, and scientific data analysis as part of a study evaluating thousands of research papers for model-based meta-analysis. Bella hopes to continue expanding her research and clinical knowledge throughout her undergraduate career as she prepares to become a healthcare professional dedicated to evidence-based medicine and compassionate patient care.

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: Dyslexia, Learning Disorders, Meta-Analysis, Psychology