NORTH SALT LAKE — A study in The Neuron focused on intensive-reading programs that Reading Horizons uses and proves changes the structure of children's’ brains.

Reading Horizons, a North Salt Lake company focusing on educational software, uses the Discover Intensive Phonics program as an intensive-reading program to improve vitality of information pathways. It also focuses on increasing the amount of white matter in the brain.

According to Reading Horizons, white matter influences reading and learning because it is the seat of information on what they call information highways.

MRIs were done on students between 8 and 12 years old who struggled with reading. Those MRI scans were compared with MRI scans of students who had typical reading skills, and it was discovered that struggling readers had a poorer quality of that white matter in their brains.

When students who struggled with reading were placed in intensive-reading programs over a year, the quality of their brains’ white matter improved.

The researcher, Marcel Just, said the amount of improvement in the white matter in an individual was correlated with that individual’s improvement in reading ability.

Reading Horizons also said that in the past, researchers believed only gray matter. However, this study pushes them to change the way they view the brain.

For more information on the Discover Intensive Phonics reading program from Reading Horizons, visit http://www.readinghorizons.com or call 1-800-333-0054.