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The failure of antimotion sickness medication to improve reading in developmental dyslexia: results of a randomized
J E Fagan1, B J Kaplan, J E Raymond
1Department of Pediatrics, University of Calgary, Alberta, Canada.
Insights
Antimotion sickness medication, like meclizine, was tested for developmental dyslexia. While showing some minor improvements in eye movements, meclizine did not benefit reading skills in children with dyslexia.
Area of Science:
- Neuroscience
- Developmental Psychology
- Pharmacology
Background:
- Developmental dyslexia is a learning disorder affecting reading.
- Antimotion sickness medications are sometimes used off-label for dyslexia treatment.
- Limited research exists on the efficacy of these medications for dyslexia.
Purpose of the Study:
- To evaluate the acute and chronic effects of antimotion sickness medications on developmental dyslexia.
- To assess the impact of methylphenidate and meclizine on reading fluency, motor skills, and eye movements in children with dyslexia.
Main Methods:
- Experiment 1: Double-blind, within-subject crossover trial of methylphenidate, meclizine, combination, and placebo over 2 days in 12 children.
- Experiment 2: Double-blind, within-subject crossover trial of meclizine (3 months) versus placebo (3 months) in 6 children from Experiment 1.
- Outcome measures included reading fluency, balance, coordination, and eye movements.
Main Results:
- Acute administration showed scattered improvements across measures, suggesting further investigation.
- Chronic meclizine treatment did not improve reading abilities.
- Meclizine significantly enhanced ocular motor stability during steady fixation, but not reading performance.
Conclusions:
- The study did not support the hypothesis that meclizine benefits developmental dyslexia.
- While meclizine may impact ocular motor control, its efficacy for dyslexia remains unproven.
- Further research is needed to explore potential therapeutic targets for dyslexia.
Abstract:
Although there have been no randomized clinical trials of the efficacy of antimotion sickness medication treatment of developmental dyslexia, some children are treated in this way. We have performed two evaluations of such treatments. In Experiment 1, 12 children participated in a double-blind within-subject crossover design to test the acute (2-day) administration of four preparations: 10 mg methylphenidate, 12.5 mg meclizine, both methylphenidate and meclizine, or placebo. Improvements obtained with each drug were scattered across measures of reading fluency, balance and coordination, and eye movements, suggesting that a chronic trial would be justified. In Experiment 2, six children from Experiment 1 received 12.5 mg meclizine b.i.d. for 3 months and placebo for 3 months in a double-blind within-subject crossover design. Meclizine had no effect on reading, but it significantly improved ocular motor stability during steady fixation. This study thus failed to support the hypothesis that meclizine is of benefit in developmental dyslexia.