Salience Matters
Neuroplasticity Rule #7 – Salience Matters
This week I’m looking at Neuroplasticity Rule number 7 – Salience Matters. This post is short and sweet! I hope you have enjoyed the various posts I have put up over the weeks, I’ve really enjoyed reading into Neuroplasticity Rules and how these can be looked at through the lens of a Dyslexic Learner. I’ve loved growing my understanding of why brains learn the way they do, and it’s sparked more of an interest in me with just how amazing our brains really are!
So what does salience mean? Simply put, salience can be defined as “the quality of being particularly noticeable or important. (The Oxford Dictionary). For example, my Birthday is of particular salience or importance to me, for others it could be religion, and for others again, it is how their child is brought up.
If we look at the rule of salience through the lens of teaching Dyslexic or neurodiverse learners, then salience matters in terms of the quality of the learning experience or programme delivered for reading writing, and spelling. It must be sufficiently significant and noticeable to induce change. Klein and Jones (2008) discuss that when the right kind of repetitive application is delivered in the right way, this can lead to changes in the brain.
Relating this back to Dyslexia and how the brain is wired to read, write and spell, the use of an evidence-based reading, writing, and spelling intervention or programme which is systematic, sequential, builds on repetition and allows the learner plenty of opportunity to fold back to skills not yet secure, should build up those neural systems and elicit change. Hudson, High, and Otaiba (2023) quote Shaywitz et al (2002) in their article Dyslexia and the Brain: What Does Current Research Tell Us? as saying “the use of an evidence-based phonologic reading intervention facilitates the development of those fast-paced neural systems that underlie skilled reading”
Kleim, J & Jones, T. (2008) Principles of Experience-Dependent Neural Plasticity: Implications for Rehabilitation After Brain Damage. Journal of Speech, Language and Hearing Research, Vol 51, S225-S239, February 2008.
Hudson, R, High, L, & Otaiba S (2023) Dyslexia and the Brain: What Does Current Research Tell Us? Retrieved from https://www.readingrockets.org/…/dyslexia-and-brain…