This illustration shows the timeline of the project. Around 200 families expecting a baby were recruited, and in 150 of these families either one or both parents had a developmental dyslexia. When the infants were born, they were studied with electroencephalography (EEG) to record event-related potentials (ERP) elicited by pseudo words and speech sound changes in these words. In addition, DNA was collected from these infants and their parents to study genes associated with dyslexia.
In children at risk for dyslexia, we investigated the effects of a music listening intervention during their first half year of life. The infants were randomized to three groups, one listening to vocal music, one listening to instrumental music, and one group serving as a no-intervention control group. The effects of the intervention on neural speech sound processing and language development were determined with measurements before and after the intervention.
The children were followed-up with EEG recordings until school age. Age-appropriate language and neuropsychological tests were also applied during the follow-up. Extensive questionnaires on the children’s development, health, and environment were collected throughout the project. In addition to these measures, children’s reading skills, brain structure with magnetic resonance imaging, and musical abilities will be tested at school age.