Other researchers have found hints of the problem in infants. Psychologists Dennis and Victoria Molfese at Southern Illinois University played a series of taped syllables, like “dee” and “bee,” for newborns in the hospital and then recorded their brain-wave responses. Eight years later, when the same children were in third grade, the researchers tested the kids for dyslexia. Preliminary results show that 80 percent of the dyslexics exhibited a single trait as newborns: on average, they responded to sounds three tenths of a second later than other babies. “Kids should be treated early–before years of reading failure in school,” says Dennis Molfese. If he’s right, the nursery may be a good place to start.
