The effects of piracetam in children with dyslexia.
Di Ianni M, Wilsher CR, Blank MS, Conners CK, Chase CH,
Funkenstein HH, Helfgott E, Holmes JM, Lougee L, Maletta GJ, et al.
J Clin Psychopharmacol 1985 Oct;5(5):272-8
Abstract
Following previous research which suggests that
piracetam improves performance on tasks associated with the left hemisphere, a 12-week, double-blind, placebo-controlled study of developmental dyslexics was conducted. Six study sites treated 257 dyslexic boys between the ages of 8 and 13 years who were significantly below their potential in reading performance. Children were of at least normal intelligence, had normal findings on audiologic, ophthalmologic, neurologic, and physical examination, and were neither educationally deprived nor emotionally disturbed.
Piracetam was found to be well tolerated in this study population. Children treated with
piracetam showed improvements in reading speed. No other effects on reading were observed. In addition, improvement in auditory sequential short-term memory was observed in those
piracetam-treated patients who showed relatively poor memory at baseline.
It is suggested that longer term treatment with
piracetam may result in
additional improvements.