Eighteen children and teenagers with dyslexia were employed for the tests and the doctors claimed reading rates accelerated by about 13 per cent

Doctors who administered a mild electic current to dyslexic children, through wires attached to the scalp, have claimed that it helps them to read faster.

Tests were undertaken over six weeks at Bambino Gesù hospital in Rome on children volunteered by their parents. The children were wired up for three 20-minute sessions weekly.

“Reading rates accelerated by about 13 per cent, which is like the benefit of a year’s schooling in six weeks,” Deny Menghini, one of the experts who took part, said.

Dyslexia sufferers, who make up between 6 and 10 per cent of the UK population, have difficulty learning to read, spell or write owing to differences in the part of the brain that processes language and vision. Printed letters sometimes appear to