BrightStar Training

Update to Chapter 7: Dyslexia Treatment Programs

1 March 2005

BrightStar is a computer based, patented product developed by the US-based corporation Epoch Innovations. It is marketed in the UK via BrightStar Learning Ltd.

BrightStar clients watch a series of flashing lights and shapes on a computer monitor; a heart monitor is used to coordinate the timing of the screen images with your child’s heart rate. The program consists of two weekly 45-minute sessions conducted over a period of 6 weeks. BrightStar promotional materials claim impressive results, but the claims are somewhat inconsistent, with reported gains of from 7 to 19 months in various skill areas.

As of January 2005, the only published research shows that the program yielded “small but significant improvements” in timed tests of single word reading and picture naming accuracy among a small group of adults who were tested. There were no significant improvements in untimed measures of reading. The researchers were not sure whether the results came from the the visual training aspect of the program, or merely from the evidence of stress reduction seen with students using the heart monitor.

Brightstar does not include any program or methodology to teach reading, and also does not include any followup training, practice or support after the intial 6 week training period. This program should currently be viewed as being experimental in nature.

REFERENCES:

An evaluation of a visual biofeedback intervention in dyslexic adults Dyslexia, Vol. 11, No. 1. (February 2005), 61. by Liddle E, Jackson G, Jackson S