Methylphenidate and Reading Difficulties

A common stimulant medication may help alleviate reading difficulties.

Scientists at Yale University observed increased activity caused by methylphenidate, a common stimulant medication, in the same part of the brain in children with AD/HD and in children with reading difficulties.

The drug increased activity in the "structure of the brain that's involved in cognition and behavior" in both groups of children, said researcher Keith Shafritz, now at Duke University Medical Center.

The results suggest that both AD/HD and reading disorder are associated with dysfunction in the brain's attention circuitry, and that methylphenidate normalizes activity in that part of the brain.