Med School Receives Funding For New Research on Dyslexia

Representatives from the Medical School, an independent research organization and a Boston-area canning firm yesterday announced plans for the nation's first laboratory for dyslexia research.

The laboratory--which will be located in the soon-to-be-built Charles A. Dana Research Institute at the Harvard-affiliated Beth Israel Hospital--will focus on the biological causes of and treatment for the common perceptual handicap, which afflicts nearly 25 million Americans.

James D. Wells, president of the Wm. Underwood Company yesterday presented a $100,000 donation to the Orton Society, a volunteer organization that studies and treats dyslexics, at the society's annual meeting in Boston. The Orton Society will turn the money over to the Medical School for construction of the laboratory.

Dr. Drake Duane, president of the society, called the donation "one of momentous proportions," and added that the money will make possible the realization of "a dream once held by Dr. Samuel T. Orton, founder of the society."

Duane said the society chose the Med School because of the outstanding dyslexia work performed by two of its faculty members, Dr. Norman Geschwind. Putnam Professor of Neurology, and Dr. Albert M. Galaburda, instructor in Neurology.

Geschwind, who will supervise the laboratory, said yesterday recent research performed by Galaburda and a Boston University researcher shows there is a biological basis for dyslexia, which was once thought to be a rare psychological abnormality. He added that the disorder results from "a congenital mistake in the wiring of the brain."

Geschwind said the laboratory will conduct studies comparing normal and dyslexic brains, using brains willed to the Medical School's new "brain bank," in hopes of discovering new treatments.