A Psychometric Tool for a Virtual Reality Rehabilitation Approach for Dyslexia

Abstract

Dyslexia is a chronic problem that affects the life of subjects and often influences their life choices. The standard rehabilitation methods all use a classic paper and pencil training format but these exercises are boring and demanding for children who may have difficulty in completing the treatments. It is important to develop a new rehabilitation program that would help children in a funny and engaging way. A Wii-based game was developed to demonstrate that a short treatment with an action video game, rather than phonological or orthographic training, may improve the reading abilities in dyslexic children. According to the results, an approach using cues in the context of a virtual environment may represent a promising tool to improve attentional skills. On the other hand, our results do not demonstrate an immediate effect on reading performance, suggesting that a more prolonged protocol may be a future direction.