Language & Literacy Conference

The Typical and Atypical Reading Brain: How a Neurobiological Framework of Early Language and Reading Development can Inform Educational and Clinical Practice and Policy
 

Beginning on Thursday, April 23, and ending Friday, April 24, the Nadine Gaab and Laura Justice will explore the typical and atypical reading brain, and share how a neurobiological framework of early language and reading development can inform educational and clinical practice and policy. 

Thursday, April 23 (1 – 4 pm)
Language and Literacy Stimulation during the Sensitive Period of Development

Learning to read is a pivotal milestone in a child's life, and it is associated with many vocational, economic, and health indices. This talk will give an overview of children’s reading development and cover the typical milestones of learning to read, the brain regions involved in reading and literacy development, and what aspects of a child's home and community support learning to read. Furthermore, we will cover the role of oral language in typical and atypical reading development and provide an overview of reading disabilities, including a deeper look at the new dyslexia definition and early identification and screening approaches. We will conclude with a discussion on how we can work together as a community of professional, educational, and community stakeholders to maximize the joy of learning to read.

Learner Outcomes:

• Participants will be able to identify the multifactorial factors that lead to typical and atypical reading development
• Participants will be able to describe of the neurobiology of typical and atypical reading development
• Participants will be able to define reading disabilities and explain how a multifactorial approach to reading disabilities can inform clinical and educational practice and policy

Nadine Gaab is the Silvana and Christopher Pascucci Professor in Learning Differences at the Harvard Graduate School of Education and the director of the GaabLab. Her work focuses on typical/atypical learning trajectories from infancy to adolescence with an emphasis on language/reading development within a learning disabilities framework. Her work is at the intersection of neuroscience, psychology, learning sciences, EdTech, and  policy. 

She is the 2024 awardee of the Translation Award from the International Society of Mind, Brain, and Education and the 2023 recipient of the Academic Research Recognition Award from the World Literacy Foundation. Furthermore, she received the Learning Disabilities Association of America Award in 2019, the Norman Geschwind Memorial Lecture in 2020, and the Alice Garside Award from the International Dyslexia Association in 2017.

Friday, April 26 (10 – 12 pm, 1 – 3 pm)
Language and Literacy Stimulation during the Sensitive Period of Development 

The sensitive period of language development, from birth to roughly 8 years of age, is a period of life affording great developmental opportunity due to enhanced brain plasticity. In the morning session, we first discuss sensitive periods of development and stimulation of language and literacy development during adult-child interactions. Major milestones in language and literacy development are described, as well as characteristics of interactions that enhance brain-supporting areas of language and literacy development. In the afternoon, we focus specifically on shared storybook interactions as a critical context to support language and literacy development. Specific adult behaviors that stimulate language and literacy development are described and examined. At the end of this session, participants will have increased understanding of brain development in early childhood, adult-child interactions that support language and literacy development, and the use of storybooks as an exemplary activity that fosters enhanced language and literacy skills.

Learner Outcomes:

• Participants will describe major milestones in language and literacy development from birth
  to age 8 years
• Participants will be able to identify features of adult interactions with children that support language and literacy development
• Participants will be able to describe three strategies to use during adult-child shared book reading that enhance language and literacy development.

Laura Justice is Distinguished Professor of Educational Psychology at The Ohio State University, where she also directs the Crane Center for Early Childhood Research and Policy. She is the Editor-in-Chief of the Journal of Applied Developmental Psychology, and an active researcher investigating language and literacy development, early interventions, and developmental language disorders.