508 A Study of Cortical Thickness in Bilingual Children with Reading Disability (Dyslexia)

Abstract

OBJECTIVES/GOALS: Dyslexia is a common Reading Disability (RD) affecting 7-12% of the population and is associated with less cortical thickness (CT) in bilateral brain regions. However, the interaction between RD and a bilingual experience on CT is unknown, even though bilingualism is also associated with altered CT. METHODS/STUDY POPULATION: We studied 48 Bilinguals assigned to the Typical Reader group based on Oral Reading Recognition Test (ORRT) scores above 90 (avg=107 ± 14), 47 Bilinguals assigned to the RD group based on ORRT scores below 85 (avg=77 ± 5), 45 English Monolingual Typical Readers with ORRT scores above 90 (avg=102 ± 13) and 47 Monolinguals with RD based on ORRT scores below 85 (avg=78 ± 5). Participants (all from the Adolescent Brain & Cognitive Development Study) were 11.9 ± 0.7 years of age and the 4 groups were matched for sex, self-ratings of English, nonverbal reasoning, and combined household income. Structural magnetic resonance images were analyzed using CAT12 and all four groups were entered into a factorial analysis. RESULTS/ANTICIPATED RESULTS: Surprisingly, the main effect of Reading Ability did not reveal any regions where RD manifested less CT than Controls (raising the possibility that the findings from the only two prior reports were due to small samples). The main effect of Language Background revealed less CT in bilinguals in bilateral perisylvian regions (inferior frontal gyri, superior temporal gyri, and left Heschl's gyrus) consistent with prior reports. There was no interaction of Reading Ability by Language Background. Taken together, we found no differences in CT in those with RD relative to Typical readers and no evidence that the dual language experience affected this result in any way. DISCUSSION/SIGNIFICANCE: The lack of interaction between Reading Ability and Language Background indicates that a dual-language experience does not affect CT differently in those with RD and reduces concerns that RD in those who are bilingual needs to be given separate consideration in studies of CT neuroanatomy.