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An engineer and philosopher will develop tool to improve the skills of dyslexic children.
Mikel Ostiz has obtained one of the 25 scholarships of the doctoral program in Spanish Universities of the "La Caixa" Foundation to carry out his thesis
The engineer and philosopher Mikel Ostiz Blanco has obtained a scholarship of the doctoral program in Spanish Universities of the "La Caixa" Foundation. La Caixa" Foundation to investigate the rhythmic perception in children with dyslexia in order to develop a tool to help them improve their abilities. This will be the goal of her doctoral thesis , which she will carry out during four years at the Institute for Culture and Society (ICS) at the University of Navarra, the Basque Center on Cognition Basque Center on Cognition Brain and Language (BCBL) and the University of Vic .
Its application will be based on previous programs of study that have observed a relationship between dyslexia and rhythm perception. Mikel Ostiz plans to finalize it during the first half of doctorate and then evaluate its effectiveness with groups of volunteers. "I will analyze both the more psychological abilities and brain activity through resonance imaging," he explains.
His purpose is that it becomes a "real" financial aid and comes to be used in professional centers and in homes: "From the beginning I want to involve associations and families, in order to gather useful information and to make them aware of it and integrate it into their routines at work".
research interdisciplinaryGiven the complexity of the field of study, Mikel's thesis will have a strong interdisciplinary character. It will be directed by the psychologist Manuel Carreira, director of the BCBL, and by the biologist and philosopher Javier Bernácer, researcher of the group Mind-brain of the ICS. Thus, the youngster will train with experts in dyslexia and language from the San Sebastian center and with specialists in neuroscience, biology, Philosophy -among other disciplines- from campus in Pamplona.
It should be noted that Mikel himself has a profile multidisciplinary : he is a Telecommunications Engineer (specialization program Image and Sound) and Master's Degree in Biomedical Engineering from the Public University of Navarra (UPNA), and graduate in Philosophy from the University of Navarra.
Precisely, the tool continues the line of his project end of degree program in the UPNA, when he developed a music application for people with intellectual disabilities to work with music. It is currently used by several educational institutions in Navarra.