Potential of Resting State Connectivity and Passive fMRI to Detect Precursors of Learning Disabilities in Infants: Preliminary Results with Infants at Familial Risk for Developmental Dyslexia

Mathieu Dehaes¹, ², Nora M. Raschle¹, ³, Danielle D. Sliva², Jennifer Zuk³, Marie Drottar², Michelle Chang³, Barbara Peysakhovich³, Bryce Becker³, Sara Smith³, Rudolph Pienaar¹, ², Nadine Gaab¹, ³, Patricia Ellen Grant, ²⁴

Developmental dyslexia (DD) is a specific language-based learning disorder affecting 5-17% of all children, characterized by difficulties with word recognition, poor spelling and decoding. Currently DD can only be diagnosed around 3rd grade, restricting the implementation of early intervention. It remains unclear how early these differences manifest. Functional resting-state connectivity MRI is a safe technique that can reveal resting-state network (RSN). Here we used an independent component analysis to estimate RSNs in infants with and without familial risk for DD at 7-12 months. Results indicate successful detection of RSNs. fMRI maps may be used as seed regions to reveal RSNs.