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Thinking of telling your kids to get off Facebook? Apparently, according to a tiny study from England, Facebook could be good for kids' brains. Especially those with dyslexia.

The Owen Barden of the Centre for Culture & Disability Studies at Liverpool Hope University recently published a paper saying that Facebook use can help kids who struggle with dyslexia overcome their literary challenges.

Barden explains in his research paper that children with reading difficulties actually flock toward Facebook's text-based format:
Because dyslexia usually is defined in terms of significant difficulties with literacy, we might reasonably anticipate that the participants would see Facebook as stigmatising rather than levelling the playing field, because of the very public literacy events that it demands. However, the data indicate that far from shying away from Facebook because of fear of their difficulties with literacy being exposed, the participants enthusiastically embraced it. The students saw Facebook as a desirable presence in their education, one that supported inclusion.
So kids feel less intimidated by reading or writing on Facebook. Does the same extend to Twitter? Here are some of the areas of improvements among students:

Keep track of deadlines
Increased awareness and feeling of control over the learning process
Better control of reading and writing rules
Feeling that Facebook provides a platform that gives and receives help when needed

The study is a very very small one, so it doesn't reflect the general population. Nevertheless it is pretty fascinating to think that it might actually be benefiting students.

[Research in Learning Technology via Daily Dot]