Nadine Gaab
Nadine Gaab is an Associate Professor of Education at the Harvard Graduate School of Education. Her work focuses on typical and atypical learning trajectories from infancy to adolescence with a special emphasis on language, reading and literacy development and the role of the environment in shaping these trajectories. Her work is at the intersection of developmental psychology, learning sciences, neuroscience, EdTech, and educational policy within a learning disability framework. Her research laboratory employs longitudinal behavioral and neuroimaging studies to characterize differences in learning as a complex outcome of cumulative risk and protective factors interacting within and across genetic, neurobiological, cognitive, and environmental levels from infancy to adolescence. Her theoretical work focuses on multifactorial frameworks of learning differences with an emphasis on early identification, and ‘preventative education’. One important key aspect of her work is the translation of research findings to address contemporary challenges in educational practice and policy. She is currently an Associate Editor for the Journal of Learning Disabilities, Scientific Studies of Reading, Neurobiology of Language, and Developmental Science. Furthermore, she is the co-founder of EarlyBird Education, a gamified platform system for identifying children at-risk for language-based learning disabilities.
When Does Learning to Read Start? Neurobiology, Development and Early Identification of Reading Disabilities
Learning trajectories are shaped by the dynamic interplay between nature and nurture, starting in utero and continuing throughout one’s lifespan. Learning differences/disabilities are often not identified until childhood or adolescence but diverging trajectories of brain development may be present as early as prenatally. Furthermore, children’s experiences and their interactions with their environment have long-lasting influences on cognitive and brain development and future academic outcomes. This talk will focus on learning differences in reading acquisition within a learning disability framework. It will present results from our longitudinal behavioral and neuroimaging studies that characterize differences in learning to read as a complex outcome of cumulative risk and protective factors interacting within and across genetic, neurobiological, cognitive, and environmental levels from infancy to adulthood. Results are discussed within an early multifactorial framework of learning differences, emphasizing screening in educational and community settings, early identification, and preventative strategies. Finally, using a global lens, the implications of these findings for contemporary challenges in educational and clinical practice and policy are discussed.
Topics: Diagnosing of Dyslexia/Screening, Dyslexia 101, Dyslexia and the Brain, Myths and Misconceptions of Dyslexia, Science of Reading and Dyslexia