Advances in Reading Intervention: Research to Practice to Research

Effective early reading intervention depends on research and practice that leads to positive changes in classroom practice and better student reading outcomes. This important volume promotes the valuable “research to practice to research” loop, bringing top experts and practitioners together to examine what we know—and what we need to know—about effective reading and writing intervention.

Part of the respected Extraordinary Brain series, this book compiles and expands on critical findings presented at The Dyslexia Foundation's biannual symposium. More than 35 researchers and practitioners explore the latest on topics relevant to effective reading and writing education, from neurobiology and genetics to specific strategies for translating research into intervention—and learning from the results of these interventions to inform new research. The concluding chapters map out key priorities for future research and innovation.

An essential text for teachers, reading specialists, reading researchers, administrators, and students in graduate courses, this volume marks a significant step toward resolving the literacy challenges of young learners. It will also help move the field toward a firmly established “research to practice to research” collaboration among researchers and practitioners.

KEY TOPICS COVERED:

• neurobiological bases of word recognition and comprehension
• how behavioral genetics can inform education
• translating and applying research to the classroom
• designing and interpreting the results of randomized controlled trials (RCTs)
• the correlation between rapid automatized naming (RAN) speed and reading development
• the impact of eye movement research on our understanding of skilled reading
• reading development and difficulties among English Language Learners
• dialect variation in African American children
• the writing challenges of children with dyslexia and Language Learning Difficulty (LLD)
• developing research ideas from classroom and school experiences
• specific considerations for the field as it progresses and develops
• and more

Carol McDonald Connor, Ph.D., Senior Learning Scientist, Learning Sciences Institute, P.O. Box 872111, Arizona State University, Tempe, Arizona 85278–2111.
Carol Connor is a professor of psychology at Arizona State University and a distinguished research associate at the Florida Center for Reading Research. Her research focuses on examining the links between young children's language and their literacy development with the goal of illuminating reasons for the perplexing difficulties that children who are atypical and diverse learners have with developing basic and advanced literacy skills. Most recently, her research interests have focused on children's learning in the classroom—from preschool through fifth grade—and developing technology and interventions to improve teacher efficacy and students' reading outcomes. Awarded the Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers (2008), the Society for Research in Child Development, Early Career Award (2009), and the Richard Snow Award (APA, 2008), she is the principal investigator for studies funded by the U.S. Department of Education, Institute for Education Sciences, and the National Institute for Child Health and Human Development. She is also Editor of the Journal for Research in Educational Effectiveness (Impact Factor 3.15) and an Associate Editor for Child Development (Impact Factor 4.1).

Peggy McCardle, Ph.D. , M.P.H., Owner, Peggy McCardle Consulting, LLC

Peggy McCardle is a private consultant and an affiliated research scientist at Haskins Laboratories. She is the former chief of the Child Development and Behavior Branch of the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD) , U.S. National Institutes of Health, where she also directed the Language, Bilingualism, and Biliteracy Research Program and developed various literacy initiatives. Dr. McCardle is a linguist, a former speech-language pathologist, and, in her remote past, a classroom teacher. Her publications address various aspects of public health and developmental psycholinguistics. The recipient of various awards for her work in federal government, including a 2013 NICHD Mentor Award, she also was selected in 2013 to receive the Einstein Award from The Dyslexia Foundation. Her publications address various aspects of public health and developmental psycholinguistics (e.g. , language development, bilingualism, reading, learning disabilities) . Dr. McCardle has taught scientific and technical writing and has extensive experience developing and coediting volumes and thematic journal issues.

Katherine Aboud, M.F.A., Doctoral Candidate, Education and Brain Sciences Research Lab, Vanderbilt University, PMB 228, 230 Appleton Place, Nashville, Tennessee 37203.

Katherine Aboud is a Ph.D. student in the Educational Neuroscience program at Vanderbilt University. She received her B.S. in Mathematics and English at Virginia Tech and her M.F.A. in poetry at George Mason University. Her current research focus is on the functional neural correlates of reading comprehension and their relationship with executive functions using magnetic resonance imaging (MRI).

Rui A. Alves, Ph.D., Assistant Professor, Universidade do Porto, Rua Alfredo Allen, 4200–135 Porto, Portugal.

Rui A. Alves is an assistant professor of psychology at the University of Porto where he lectures on writing, learning disabilities, and neuropsychology. His main research interests are writing and literacy development. His research group studies early text production and develops writing interventions. Since 2011, he has been the coordinator of the Special Interest Group on Writing of the European Association for Research on Learning and Instruction. He is also deeply engaged in editorial work and is an associate editor of the journal Reading & Writing: An Interdisciplinary Journal. Currently, he is also chairing the COST Action IS1401, which is establishing the European Literacy Network.

Stephen Kent Bailey, B.S., B.A., Doctoral Candidate, Educational Neuroscience, Education and Brain Sciences Research Lab, Vanderbilt University, PMB 328, 230 Appleton Place, Nashville, Tennessee, 37203.

Stephen Bailey received a B.S. in chemistry and a B.A. in philosophy in 2011 from Samford University in Birmingham, Alabama. He is currently working toward a Ph.D. in Educational Neuroscience from the Peabody College of Education and Human Development at Vanderbilt University, advised by Laurie Cutting. His research interests include the investigation of neurocorrelates of reading ability using MRI techniques.

Laura A. Barquero, M.S., Doctoral Candidate, Special Education, Education and Brain Sciences Research Lab, Vanderbilt University, PMB 228, 230 Appleton Place, Nashville, Tennessee 37203.

Laura Barquero is a doctoral candidate in Special Education at the Peabody College of Education and Human Development at Vanderbilt University. Her current research explores using functional MRI to explore responsiveness to reading intervention for children with reading difficulties.

Christopher W. Bartlett, Ph.D., Associate Professor of Pediatrics, Battelle Center for Mathematical Medicine, The Research Institute at Nationwide Children's Hospital and the Ohio State University College of Medicine, 575 Children’s Crossroad, Columbus, Ohio 43215.

Christopher Bartlett is an associate professor of pediatrics at Nationwide Children's Hospital and the Ohio State University College of Medicine. Dr. Bartlett researches the genetic basis of oral and written language impairments in populations with isolated impairments and language impairments that co-occur with autism spectrum disorders. He has published more than 40 peer-reviewed articles and has given invited oral presentations in Asia, Europe, and North America. He has been a special issue editor for the Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry and is currently editing a volume in the Frontiers in Developmental Science book series for Psychology Press. He serves as an associate editor for BMC Bioinformatics.

Linda M. Brzustowicz, M.D., Professor and Chair, Department of Genetics, Human Genetics Institute of New Jersey, Life Sciences Building, 145 Bevier Road, Piscataway, New Jersey 08854.

Linda Brzustowicz received her A.B. in biochemistry and molecular biology from Harvard University (1982) and her M.D. from Columbia University (1987). After a pediatrics internship at Brown University's Rhode Island Hospital, she returned to Columbia University and completed residency training in psychiatry as well as postdoctoral training in molecular genetics and statistical genetics. She has been a faculty member at Rutgers University since 1994, running the Psychiatric Genetics Laboratory first at the Center for Molecular and Behavioral Neuroscience on the Newark Campus (1994-2001) and subsequently in the Department of Genetics on the Busch Campus where she is Professor and Chair.

Philip Capin, M.A., Researcher, The Meadows Center for Preventing Educational Risk, University of Texas at Austin, 1912 Speedway D4900, Austin, Texas 78712.

Philip Capin is a doctoral student at the University of Texas at Austin (UT) studying special education with a concentration in learning disabilities and behavior disorders. Before joining the Meadows Center for Preventing Educational Risk and UT, he planned and directed sustainable professional development initiatives to enhance reading instruction and assessment. Capin is also an experienced special education teacher and a certified school administer. His research interests include empirically validated reading interventions, the measurement of reading comprehension, and response to intervention.

Donald L. Compton, Ph.D., Professor and Chair, Special Education Department, Peabody College, P.O. Box 228, 110 Magnolia Circle, 313 OMC, Vanderbilt University, Nashville, Tennessee 37203.

Donald L. Compton is a professor and chair of the Special Education Department and a John F. Kennedy Center Investigator at Peabody College, Vanderbilt University. His research involves modeling individual differences in the development of children's reading skills and the identification of children with reading disabilities.

Vincent Connelly, Ph.D., Program Lead and Professor, Department of Psychology, Social Work and Public Health, Oxford Brookes University, Gipsy Lane, Oxford, OX3 0BP, United Kingdom.

Vince Connelly is a professor of psychology at Oxford Brookes University in the United Kingdom. He has many years of experience in research on literacy. He has published work on the interaction between reading instruction and reading development but is more recently known for his work on the development of writing skills. He has published work studying the difficulties that children with language learning disorder and dyslexia have with learning to write. He has organized a number of workshops with teachers and educational professionals to exchange views on the teaching of writing in the United Kingdom. He is a joint coordinator of the European Special Interest Group on Writing with Rui Alves.

Michael D. Coyne, Ph.D., Professor, Special Education Program, Department of Educational Psychology, Neag School of Education, Unit 3064, University of Connecticut, Storrs, Connecticut 06269.

Michael Coyne is a professor of special education in the Neag School of Education at the University of Connecticut. He is also a research scientist at the Center for Behavioral Education and Research. His research focuses on beginning reading and early vocabulary instruction and intervention, school-based experimental research, multitiered or response to intervention systems of support, and effective practices for students with learning disabilities.

Laurie E. Cutting, Ph.D., Patricia and Rodes Hart Endowed Chair and Professor, Peabody College of Education and Human Development, Vanderbilt University, Nashville, Tennessee 37203.

Laurie Cutting holds faculty appointments in the Departments of Special Education, Psychology, Radiology, and Pediatrics at Vanderbilt University, is a Senior Scientist at Haskins Laboratories, and has an adjunct faculty position at Johns Hopkins School of Medicine, Department of Neurology. Her research focuses on educational neuroscience—in particular, the neurobiological and behavioral underpinnings of reading, oral language, and dyslexia.

Stephanie N. Del Tufo, B.A., Doctoral Candidate, Department of Psychology, University of Connecticut, 406 Babbidge Road, Unit 1020, University of Connecticut, Storrs, Connecticut 06269.

Stephanie N. Del Tufo is a doctoral candidate at the University of Connecticut and Haskins Laboratories, advised by Drs. Kenneth Pugh and Emily Myers. In her previous work as a technical assistant at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Del Tufo studied speech perception and reading in children and adults with and without dyslexia under Dr. John Gabrieli and Dr. Joanna Christodoulou. Del Tufo previously studied neuroscience and chemistry at Smith College. In her current work, she investigates the neurobiological basis of speech perception and reading that underlies developmental dyslexia.

Julie E. Dockrell, Ph.D., AcSS, FRCSLT, Professor of Psychology and Special Needs, Psychology and Human Development, Institute of Education, 20 Bedford Way, London WC1H 0AL, United Kingdom.

Julie Dockrell is a qualified educational and clinical psychologist whose research focuses on the ways in which developmental difficulties affect children’s learning and attainments. She was codirector of the Better Communication Research Programme, the largest U.K. study on the needs of children with language difficulties. She has been the editor of the British Journal of Educational Psychology and an associate editor of the Journal of Speech Language and Hearing Research and Learning and Instruction.

Judy F. Flax, Ph.D., Associate Research Professor, Department of Genetics, Rutgers University, 145 Bevier Road, Room 224, Piscataway, New Jersey 08854.

Judy F. Flax is an associate research professor in the Brzustowicz Lab in the Department of Human Genetics and a former senior research scientist in the Infancy Studies Laboratory, Center for Molecular and Behavioral Neuroscience (CMBN) at Rutgers University. Over the past 20 years, her primary research interests have spanned the areas of normal speech and language acquisition; the behavioral, neural, and genetic bases of autism; and language-based learning disabilities (SLI and dyslexia). As a licensed speech-language pathologist and learning consultant, she has more than 35 years of clinical expertise in language-based learning disabilities, autism, and special education.

Nadine Gaab, Ph.D., Associate Professor of Pediatrics, Boston Children's Hospital/Harvard Medical School, Department of Medicine/Division of Developmental Medicine, Laboratories of Cognitive Neuroscience, 1 Autumn Street, Boston, Massachusetts 02115.

Nadine Gaab is an associate professor of pediatrics at Boston Children's Hospital/Harvard Medical School and a faculty member at the Harvard Graduate School of Education. Her current research focuses on auditory and language processing in the human brain and its applications for the development of typical and atypical language and literacy skills. The Gaab Lab is currently working on various topics with a main focus on early identification of developmental dyslexia in the prereading and infant brain. The Gaab Lab employs cross-sectional and longitudinal study designs and works closely with more than 20 private and public schools within the greater New England area.

George K. Georgiou, Ph.D., Associate Professor, Department of Educational Psychology, 6-102 Education North, University of Alberta, Edmonton-AB, T6G 2G5, Canada.

George Georgiou is an associate professor in the Department of Educational Psychology at the University of Alberta. His interests include the examination of the role of rapid naming in reading across languages, ages, and populations. In addition, he specializes in the factors (cognitive and noncognitive) that impede or facilitate literacy development across languages.

Sara A. Hart, Ph.D., Assistant Professor, Department of Psychology, 1107 West Call Street, Florida State University, Tallahassee, Florida 32306.

Sara Hart is an assistant professor of psychology and a member of the research faculty at the Florida Center for Reading Research at Florida State University. Broadly defined, her research interests focus on the sources of individual differences on cognitive ability and achievement development. She primarily focuses on how genetics and the environment interplay to influence the development of reading and math skills as well as general cognitive processing. In addition, she is interested in incorporating genetic and family environment information into practitioners' understanding of response to intervention.

Juan E Jiménez, Ph.D., Professor of Learning Disabilities, Faculty of Psychology, Campus de Guajara 38200, La Laguna, Tenerife, Universidad de La Laguna, Canary Islands, Spain.

Juan E. Jiménez, professor of learning disabilities, chaired the Scientific Committee of the Canary Institute and the Educational Quality Assessment (Intervention Center for Early Childhood). He served as the scientific advisor for the International Foundation for Intercultural and Interreligious Education (Ministry of Education) in a study on students with dyslexia within the education system in Spain. In this capacity, he has participated as the Spanish coordinator responsible for cooperative programs of the Spanish Agency for International Development Cooperation (AECID) with the following Latin American countries: Guatemala, Mexico, Chile, and Ecuador. He has collaborated with the Technical Department of Humanities and Social Sciences of the Ministry of Science and Innovation. Jiménez serves as an expert appointed by United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) for the project on Formative Assessment of Writing in Early Grades.

David J. Jodoin, B.A., Chief Technology Officer and Senior Vice President, CafeX Communications, 31 Milk Street, Boston, Massachusetts 02109.

David Jodoin is an expert in innovation and runs a research and development team located in Boston, Massachusetts. His background as a serial entrepreneur has garnered him industry recognition as an authority on the open innovation process, leading the design, development, and introduction of several major high-technology products that are in widespread use today. Jodoin holds degrees from Harvard University and Dean College in social sciences, computer science engineering, and business management. He has performed extensive research concerning the impact of technology on government, business, adult, and adolescent development and the formation of social groups in virtual communities.

Nonie K. Lesaux, Ph.D., Juliana W. and William Foss Thompson Professor of Education and Society, Harvard Graduate School of Education, 14 Appian Way, Cambridge, Massachusetts 02138.

Nonie K. Lesaux is a Juliana W. and William Foss Thompson professor of education and society at the Harvard Graduate School of Education. She leads a research program that focuses on increasing opportunities to learn for students from diverse linguistic and economic backgrounds. Her studies on reading and vocabulary development, as well as instruction to prevent reading difficulties, have implications for practitioners, researchers, and policy makers. In 2009, she was a recipient of the Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers, the highest honor given by the U.S. government to young independent researchers. A native of Canada, Lesaux earned her doctorate in educational psychology and special education from the University of British Columbia.

Teresa Limpo, Ph.D., Faculty Member, Psychology and Educational Sciences, Universidade do Porto, Rua Alfredo Allen, 4200-135 Porto, Portugal

Teresa Limpo completed her Ph.D. in psychology at the University of Porto in the Faculty of Psychology and Educational Sciences. Her primary research interest centers on writing from a cognitive perspective. In particular, she has been studying the role of transcription and self-regulation skills in writing as well as developing and testing intervention programs to promote them in school-age children. She also provides training for teachers interested in implementing these evidence-based practices in their classrooms. Currently, she is the junior coordinator of the Special Interest Group on Writing of the European Association for Research on Learning and Instruction.

Maureen W. Lovett, Ph.D., C.Psych., Professor of Pediatrics and Medical Services, University of Toronto; Senior Scientist, Neurosciences and Mental Health Program; and Director, Learning Disabilities Research Program, The Hospital for Sick Children, 555 University Avenue, Toronto, Ontario, Canada, M5G 1X8.

Maureen W. Lovett is a Senior Scientist in the Neurosciences and Mental Health Program at The Hospital for Sick Children and a Professor of Pediatrics and Medical Sciences at the University of Toronto. Her research focuses on questions about the effective remediation of decoding, word identification, fluency, and reading comprehension impairments in struggling readers in elementary, middle, and high schools. As a coprincipal investigator of the Institute of Education Sciences-funded Center for the Study of Adult Literacy, she is developing interventions for adult literacy learners as well. She and her team are also involved in knowledge translation initiatives: Their Empower™ Reading intervention programs are now used to teach struggling readers in school districts in four Canadian provinces.

Joan A. Mele-McCarthy, D.A., Executive Director, the Summit School, 664 East Central Avenue, Edgewater, Maryland 21037.

Joan Mele-McCarthy is the executive director of the Summit School, a school designed for students who have dyslexia and other learning differences. Prior to this position, she served as a special assistant to the assistant secretary for special education/rehabilitation services in the U.S. Department of Education and worked on policy issues related to the connections between special education and general education and between English Learners and disabilities. She also has served on university faculties in departments of communication sciences and disorders, owned and directed a private practice that provided direct intervention and school consultation, and worked in public schools. Her work is focused on language-based learning differences and special education policy.

Brett Miller, Ph.D., Program Director, Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD), 6100 Executive Boulevard, Suite 4B05, Rockville, Maryland 20852.

Brett Miller oversees the Reading, Writing, and Related Learning Disabilities research portfolio at the National Institutes of Health (NICHD), which focuses on developing and supporting research and training initiatives to increase knowledge relevant to the development of reading and written-language abilities for learners with and without disabilities. Dr. Miller also codirects the Language, Bilingualism, and Biliteracy Research Program, which focuses on language development and psycholinguistics from infancy through early adulthood; bilingualism and/or second-language acquisition; and reading in bilingual and/or English-language-learning children and youth.

Frederick J. Morrison, Ph.D., Professor of Psychology, Combined Program in Education and Psychology and Research Professor, Survey Research Center, Institute for Social Research, University of Michigan, 530 Church Street, Ann Arbor, Michigan 48109.

Fredrick J. Morrison is a professor of psychology and a professor in the Combined Program in Education and Psychology at the University of Michigan. In recent years, his research has focused on understanding the nature and sources of children's cognitive, literacy, and social development throughout the school transition period. His work ranges from conducting basic research studies utilizing natural experiments and large-scale, longitudinal, descriptive studies of children's developmental trajectories to developing, implementing, and evaluating two major interventions aimed at improving children's learning during the preschool and early school years. Recently, he has been exploring schooling effects on brain and behavior measures of children's self-regulation.

Angeliki Mouzaki, Ph.D., Assistant Professor of Learning Disabilities, Department of Primary Education, University of Crete, Gallos Campus, Rethymno 74100, Greece.

Angeliki Mouzaki began her career as an elementary school teacher, earned a Ph.D. in educational psychology at the University of Houston and worked at the Center for Academic and Reading Skills at the University of Texas Health and Science Center at Houston. Her primary research interests are reading and spelling skill development and disorders as well as issues related to reading instruction and interventions for diverse student populations.

Nicole Patton Terry, Ph.D., Associate Professor, Department of Educational Psychology and Special Education, and Director, The Urban Child Study Center, College of Education, Georgia State University, P.O. Box 3979, Atlanta, Georgia 30302.

Nicole Patton Terry is the coordinator of the Behavior Learning Disabilities Program, a member of the Center for Research on Atypical Development and Learning and the Board of Regents Initiative on Research on the Challenges of Acquiring Language and Literacy, the director of the newly founded Urban Child Study Center in the College of Education, and a research scientist at Haskins Laboratories at Yale University. She is an associate editor of the American Journal of Speech Language Pathology. Her research concerns children who struggle with language and literacy, in particular children from culturally and linguistically diverse backgrounds, who speak nonmainstream American English dialects and who live in low-income or working-class households.

Kenneth R. Pugh, Ph.D., President, Director of Research, and Senior Scientist, Haskins Laboratories, 300 George Street, Suite 900, New Haven, Connecticut 06511.

Kenneth R. Pugh—in addition to his positions at Haskins Laboratories, a Yale University and University of Connecticut affiliated interdisciplinary institute that is dedicated to the investigation of the biological bases of language—holds positions at the University of Connecticut, Yale University, and the Yale University School of Medicine. He directs the Yale Reading Center, is a member of the Scientific Advisory Board for the International Dyslexia Association and the Rodin Remediation Academy in Stockholm, and has served as a peer reviewer at the National Institutes of Health and as a panel member at the National Research Council of the National Academies. His research in cognitive neuroscience and psycholinguistics focuses on the neurobiology of typical and atypical language and reading development.