Nadine Gaab PhD, Associate Professor of Pediatrics at Boston Children's Hospital/Harvard Medical School, will present a talk titled The typical and atypical reading brain: Developmental evidence from infants, preschoolers and school-age children

Abstract: Various developmental disorders such as developmental dyslexia are diagnosed in early childhood but divergent trajectories of brain development may already be present in preschool or even at birth or prenatally. Here I will present results from our three longitudinal studies which investigate whether observed functional and structural brain differences associated with developmental dyslexia are already present in infants and preschoolers, how they develop over time, and whether these functional and structural differences could be exploited to predict later reading outcome. We will further introduce a multiple deficit model that illustrates reading impairment as an outcome of multiple risks and protective factors interacting at the genetic, neural, cognitive, and environmental from infancy to adolecence. Understanding the early developmental trajectories of reading, behaviorally and in the brain, will allow for better understanding of the etiological basis of reading impairments and will help inform early identification practices. Finally, current and potential implications of these neuroscientific findings for contemporary challenges in the field of typical and atypical reading development, as well as for education in general, are discussed.

For more information on Dr Gaab, visit gaablab.com.

All are welcome.