Phonics Training With Core5 Improves Reading in Children With Neurofibromatosis Type 1

PURPOSE: Children with neurofibromatosis type 1 (NF1) often show signs of cognitive impairments, including difficulties with reading skills. This clinical study aimed to assess the efficacy of a phonics training program, Lexia® Core5® Reading, in improving reading skills in children with NF1.

METHOD: Thirty children with NF1 participated in this double-baseline study. Reading-related measures were collected at four time points: (1) Eight weeks before treatment, (2) just prior to treatment, (3) right after the children used Core5 daily at home for eight weeks, and (4) eight weeks after treatment. The measures included letter-sound knowledge, blending, repetition of nonword words, nonword and regular-word reading, phonemic decoding fluency, and reading comprehension. Repeated-measures ANOVA were conducted to examine change over time for all measures. Performance on key reading measures remained stable at baseline (time point 1 to time point 2).

KEY FINDINGS

• Ninety percent of the children with NF1 who participated in the study completed the eight weeks of Core5 use.
• Children with NF1 showed intervention-specific improvements across multiple reading-related measures, including letter-sound knowledge, blending, and repetition of nonsense words.
• Intervention-specific improvements were also observed for regular-word reading, nonword reading, phonemic decoding fluency, and reading comprehension.
• The improvements in reading-related measures were maintained for eight weeks following Core5 use.

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