Nervous System Diseases

Symptoms and General Pathology

Behaviors and Mental Disorders

All Conditions

Neoplasms

Diseases and Abnormalities at or Before Birth

Skin and Connective Tissue Diseases

Rare Diseases

Dyslexia

Neurofibromatoses

Neurofibromatosis 1

Neurofibroma

Learning Disabilities

Neurologic Manifestations

Nerve Sheath Neoplasms

Neoplasms, Nerve Tissue

Neoplasms by Histologic Type

Syndrome

Neoplastic Syndromes, Hereditary

Neurocutaneous Syndromes

Heredodegenerative Disorders, Nervous System

Neurodegenerative Diseases

Genetic Diseases, Inborn

Peripheral Nervous System Diseases

Neuromuscular Diseases

Nervous System Neoplasms

Peripheral Nervous System Neoplasms

Communication Disorders

Neurobehavioral Manifestations

Neurodevelopmental Disorders

Mental Disorders

Psychotic Disorders

Language Disorders

Specific Learning Disorder

Neurofibromatosis

Neurofibromatosis Type 1

Lipid Regulating Agents

All Drugs and Chemicals

Lovastatin

L 647318

Dihydromevinolin

Anticholesteremic Agents

Hypolipidemic Agents

Antimetabolites

Hydroxymethylglutaryl-CoA Reductase Inhibitors

Enzyme Inhibitors

Participants (NF-1 patients) will receive 20mg of Lovastatin per day for the first two weeks, the dose will be escalated 40 mg for the remaining 11 weeks.

And one week of intensive, one-on-one reading tutoring intervention

Participants (NF-1 patients) will receive placebo daily And one week of intensive, one-on-one reading tutoring intervention

Participants (RD-only participants) will receive one week of intensive, one-on-one reading tutoring intervention

Participants (RD-only participants) will receive one week of intensive, one-on-one tutoring intervention with an academic focus other than reading.

These participants will have the opportunity to receive reading tutoring upon finishing study participation.

Those in the Lovastatin group will receive 20mg of Lovastatin per day for the first two weeks and 40mg of Lovastatin per day starting at week 3 through week 11.

After the initial 12 weeks of Lovastatin or placebo, children will return for one week of intensive, one-on-one tutoring intervention (either reading or sham; Visit 2)

reading tutoring intervention

Those in the placebo group will receive a tablet daily

Placebo Oral Tablet

No reading (sham) tutoring. Children will receive intensive tutoring on a subject other than reading.

Other Academic "sham" tutoring

Julie Delheimer, BS

Lanier P. Sachs, M.E.d

Laura E. Cutting

Laurie Cutting, PhD

Sheryl L. Rimrodt-Frierson, MD

Neurofibromatosis Type 1 (NF1) is a common genetic disorder that is associated with a four times greater risk of learning disabilities, including reading disabilities, and a deficiency of neurofibromin - a protein important in a signaling pathway that regulates learning and memory. Our previous work (NS49096) demonstrated that school-age children with NF+RD can respond to standard phonologically-based reading tutoring originally developed to treat reading disability in the general population. Combining our work with that by other researchers suggesting that a medication (Lovastatin) may counteract the effects of the deficient neurofibromin, and possibly ameliorate learning disabilities in NF1, the investigator propose to examine the synergistic effects of medication plus reading tutoring.

Neurofibromitosis Type 1 (NF1) is a common autosomal dominant neurocutaneous syndrome. The most common concern of NF1 is learning disabilities (LDs). Approximately half of children with NF1 have LDs, the most common of which are reading disabilities (RDs).The purpose of this research is to gain a deeper understanding of the characteristics and treatment of RDs in NF1.

The Investigator will evaluate four different groups (see list below) to determine if there are differential outcomes in these groups of children with NF+RD. The first two groups will consist of NF1 patients, and the second two groups will consist of participants with RDs but without NF1.

1. Reading tutoring program and a medication called Lovastatin (NF1 patients)
2. Reading tutoring program and no Lovastatin (placebo) (NF1 patients)
3. Reading tutoring program (RD participants)
4. Other Academic "Sham" tutoring (eligible to receive reading tutoring after study participation is complete) (RD participants)

Interventions for Reading Disabilities in NF1

Neurobiology and Treatment of Reading Disability in NF1

WJ-IV (Forms A and B) Letter Word Identification, Word Attack, and Passage Comprehension subtests will be administered in order to assess word recognition accuracy, decoding accuracy, and comprehension.

(WRMT-III; Forms A and B); Word Identification, Word Attack, and Passage Comprehension will be administered to assess word recognition accuracy, decoding accuracy, and comprehension. The WRMT-III and WJ-III correlate at .87, and at the item level show similar characteristics (e.g., containing 31% and 34% multisyllabic words, respectively).

(TOWRE-2; Forms A, B, C, D) Sight Word Efficiency and Pseudoword Decoding will be used to assess real and pseudoword reading speed.

At each visit, 2 word and 2 pseudoword lists (20 words each) will be administered. Word lists are matched on relevant characteristics (e.g., frequency, bigram frequency). Real word lists have already been developed and tested, and show high inter-correlations (r =.87-.97).

(TOSCRF-2; 91; Forms A, B, C, D). This test requires identifying as many words as possible in 3 min within a sentential context.

CTOPP-2 core subtests will be used to assess phonological processing, a known predictor of decoding and word recognition.

Sorting from the D-KEFS will be used to assess higher-level planning and shifting abilities.

The child "hops" from square to square in the grid, repeated from various starting points. After landing on the target square, a fun goal pops up. The number of "hops" to reach the goal is measured. A control probe trial is given in which there is no goal.

(JLO, Forms J and H)98 requires the judgment of spatial relationships between two lines compared to a reference of a protractor-like half-circle of 11 lines. The Investigator will create 4 forms from the two already existing by splitting each test in half by selecting every other item, a method used by others (Leach et al., 2003). This will allow us to generate 4 different versions of the JLO.

CELF-5 will be used to assess aspects of oral language (e.g., syntax, semantics, \& working memory).

Spots Global Cancer Trial Database for reading disability