Dyslexia is characterized by difficulties in learning to read and there is some evidence that action video
games (AVG), without any direct phonological or orthographic stimulation, improve reading efficiency
in Italian children with dyslexia. However, the cognitive mechanism underlying this improvement and
the extent to which the benefits of AVG training would generalize to deep English orthography, remain
two critical questions. During reading acquisition, children have to integrate written letters with speech
sounds, rapidly shifting their attention from visual to auditory modality. In our study, we tested reading
skills and phonological working memory, visuo-spatial attention, auditory, visual and audio-visual
stimuli localization, and cross-sensory attentional shifting in two matched groups of English-speaking
children with dyslexia before and after they played AVG or non-action video games. The speed of
words recognition and phonological decoding increased after playing AVG, but not non-action video
games. Furthermore, focused visuo-spatial attention and visual-to-auditory attentional shifting also
improved only after AVG training. This unconventional reading remediation program also increased
phonological short-term memory and phoneme blending skills. Our report shows that an enhancement
of visuo-spatial attention and phonological working memory, and an acceleration of visual-to-auditory
attentional shifting can directly translate into better reading in English-speaking children with dyslexia.
