Reaching students with reading disabilities during the summer

Christodoulou, J. A., Azor, A. M., & Marks, R. A. (2024). Reaching students with reading disabilities during the summer. Policy Insights from the Behavioral and Brain Sciences, 11(1), 67-75. https://doi.org/10.1177/2372732223122063 

Summary: Directed toward policymakers and school leaders, this article provides an overview of summer program options for school-age students and offers recommendations for improving access and quality of opportunities to foster reading skills.

Reflections on the past two decades of Mind, Brain, and Education

Ozernov-Palchik, O., Pollack, C., Bonawitz, E., Christodoulou, J. A., Gaab, N., Gabrieli, J. D. E., Kievlan, P. M., Kirby, C., Lin, G., Luk, G., & Nelson, C. A. (2024). Reflections on the past two decades of Mind, Brain, and Education. Mind, brain and education: the official journal of the International Mind, Brain, and Education Society, 18(1), 6–16. https://doi.org/10.1111/mbe.12407 

Summary:  Mind, brain, and education community members offer an overview of the links between cognitive neuroscience and education since the early 2000s.

Neurocognitive mechanisms of co-occurring math difficulties in dyslexia: Differences in executive function and visuospatial processing

Marks, R. A., Pollack, C., Meisler, S. L., D'Mello, A. M., Centanni, T. M., Romeo, R. R., Wade, K., Matejko, A. A., Ansari, D., Gabrieli, J. D. E., & Christodoulou, J. A. (2024). Neurocognitive mechanisms of co‐occurring math difficulties in dyslexia: Differences in executive function and visuospatial processing. Developmental Science, 27(2), e13443. https://doi.org/10.1111/desc.13443

Summary:
Children with reading disabilities (RD) frequently have a co-occurring math disability (MD), but the mechanisms behind this high comorbidity are not well understood. Children with RD only versus RD+MD did not differ in their phonological processing, either behaviorally or in the brain.

RD+MD was associated with additional behavioral difficulties in working memory, and reduced visual cortex activation during a visuospatial working memory task.

White matter microstructural plasticity associated with educational intervention in reading disability

Meisler, S. L., Gabrieli, J. D. E., & Christodoulou, J. A. (2024). White matter microstructural plasticity associated with educational intervention in reading disability. Imaging Neuroscience, 2, 1–18. https://doi.org/10.1162/imag_a_00108 

Summary: Over summer vacation, student reading outcomes included both score gains and losses, and these reading score changes were associated with brain plasticity via white matter tract changes within core reading brain circuitry.

Cognitive Neuroscience and Education

Luk, G. & Christodoulou, J.A. (2023). Cognitive Neuroscience and Education. In P. A. Schutz & K. R. Muis (Eds.) Handbook of Educational Psychology, 4th edition. Routledge. Chapter 17. https://doi.org/10.4324/9780429433726

Summary: This chapter focuses on cognitive neuroscience as it relates to education, and proposes a model of transdisciplinary collaboration offering examples from bilingualism and summer learning outcomes.

Risk and resilience correlates of reading among adolescents with language-based learning disabilities during COVID-19

Marks, R. A., Norton, R. T., Mesite, L., Fox, A. B., & Christodoulou, J. A. (2023). Risk and resilience correlates of reading among adolescents with language-based learning disabilities during COVID-19. Reading and Writing, 36(2), 401–428.

Summary: During a year of school closure due to COVID-19, reading outcomes were better predicted by resilience than by risk factors among high school students with language-based learning disabilities.

Socioeconomic dissociations in the neural and cognitive bases of reading disorders

Romeo, R. R., Perrachione, T. K., Olson, H. A., Halverson, K. K., Gabrieli, J. D. E., & Christodoulou, J. A. (2022). Socioeconomic dissociations in the neural and cognitive bases of reading disorders. Developmental Cognitive Neuroscience, 58, 101175. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.dcn.2022.101175 

Summary: Socioeconomic status (SES) moderates which deficits/brain systems explain reading disorders (RDs), with RD better explained by reduced phonological skills in higher-SES children and reduced rapid naming skills in lower-SES children.

How neuroscience can help to overcome adversity in education

Romeo, R. & Christodoulou, J.A. (2022). How neuroscience can help to overcome adversity in education. In A. Holliman & K. Sheehy (Eds.), Overcoming adversity in education, 1st edition. Routledge. https://doi.org/10.4324/9781003180029 

Summary: In this chapter, we discuss how the field of educational neuroscience can inform educational practice as it pertains to both endogenous and exogenous adversities with a specific focus on two types: socioeconomic disadvantage and reading disabilities.

Dissociating executive function and ADHD influences on reading ability in children with dyslexia

Al Dahhan, N. Z., Halverson, K., Peek, C. P., Wilmot, D., D'Mello, A., Romeo, R. R., Meegoda, O., Imhof, A., Wade, K., Sridhar, A., Falke, E., Centanni, T. M., Gabrieli, J. D. E., & Christodoulou, J. A. (2022). Dissociating executive function and ADHD influences on reading ability in children with dyslexia. Cortex, 153, 126–142. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cortex.2022.03.025 

Summary: Executive function challenges in dyslexia, independent of ADHD status, were associated with greater difficulties in reading fluency and greater reductions of activation in response to print in the typical left-hemisphere reading network.

Socioeconomic status and reading outcomes: Neurobiological and behavioral correlates

Romeo, R. R., Uchida, L., & Christodoulou, J. A. (2022). Socioeconomic status and reading outcomes: Neurobiological and behavioral correlates. New Directions for Child and Adolescent Development, 2022(183-184), 57–70. https://doi.org/10.1002/cad.20475 

Summary: In this chapter, we examine reading outcomes and socioeconomic status (SES) using a developmental cognitive and educational neuroscience perspective, focusing on reading achievement and intervention outcomes.

Online training modules for teaching assessment skills to graduate student clinicians

Radville, K. M., Larrivee, E. C., Baron, L. S., Kelley-Nazzaro, P., & Christodoulou, J. A. (2022). Online training modules for teaching assessment skills to graduate student clinicians. Language, Speech, and Hearing Services in Schools, 53(2), 417–430. https://doi.org/10.1044/2021_LSHSS-21-00068 

Summary: Researcher-developed and scalable online training modules were created and shown to improve knowledge for assessment skills for beginning and advanced graduate students. These training modules can be used as a model for developing teaching materials across a range of assessments and related topics that are scalable in the context of remote teaching and learning.

Knowledge gaps for functional outcomes after multilobar resective and disconnective pediatric epilepsy surgery: Conference Proceedings of the Patient-Centered Stakeholder Meeting 2019

Jones, M., Harris, W. B., Perry, M. S., Behrmann, M., Christodoulou, J., Fallah, A., Kolb, B., Musiek, F., Paul, L. K., Puka, K., Salorio, C., Sankar, R., Smith, M. L., Naduvil Valappil, A. M., Walshaw, P., Weiner, H. L., Woo, R., Zeitler, P., & Abel, T. J. (2022). Knowledge gaps for functional outcomes after multilobar resective and disconnective pediatric epilepsy surgery: Conference Proceedings of the Patient-Centered Stakeholder Meeting 2019. Epileptic Disorders, 24(1), 50–66. https://doi.org/10.1684/epd.2021.1373 

Summary: A joint initiative among multidisciplinary community members identified areas in need of attention for children post-surgery for epilepsy as (1) hydrocephalus; (2) mental health issues; and (3) literacy and other educational outcomes.

Anxiety, motivation, and competence in mathematics and reading for children with and without learning difficulties

Pollack, C., Wilmot, D., Centanni, T. M., Halverson, K., Frosch, I., D'Mello, A. M., Romeo, R. R., Imhof, A., Capella, J., Wade, K., Al Dahhan, N. Z., Gabrieli, J. D. E., & Christodoulou, J. A. (2021). Anxiety, motivation, and competence in mathematics and reading for children with and without learning difficulties. Frontiers in Psychology, 12, 704821. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2021.704821 

Summary: We leveraged existing math anxiety and reading motivation scales to create novel parallel measures of reading anxiety and math motivation to measure socio-emotional characteristics across domains. We found within domain relations among anxiety, motivation, and competence for both math and reading. We also found that reading socio-emotional characteristics predict both reading and math competence, which persisted when accounting for math motivation, nonverbal cognitive ability, age, and gender.

Literacy-related skills among children after left or right hemispherectomy

Christodoulou, J. A., Halverson, K., Meegoda, O., Beckius, H., Moser, S., Imhof, A., & Maguire, A. (2021). Literacy-related skills among children after left or right hemispherectomy. Epilepsy & Behavior, 121(Pt A), 107995. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.yebeh.2021.107995 

Summary: Isolated left and right hemispheres can support foundational reading skills. Word-level reading is stronger with an isolated left, versus right, hemisphere. Shorter duration from seizure onset to surgery is associated with stronger reading. Younger post-surgery reading acquisition is associated with higher reading scores.

Cerebellar contributions to rapid semantic processing in reading

D'Mello, A. M., Centanni, T. M., Gabrieli, J. D. E., & Christodoulou, J. A. (2020). Cerebellar contributions to rapid semantic processing in reading. Brain and Language, 208, 104828. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.bandl.2020.104828 

Summary: The cerebellum plays a role in the reading network that we expanded by finding that cerebellar activation correlated with sub-lexical, word, and passage-level fluency skills (but not age).

Relationships between socioeconomic status and reading development: Cognitive outcomes and neural mechanisms

Romeo, R.R., Imhof, A.M., Bhatia, P., & Christodoulou, J.A. (2020). Relationships between socioeconomic status and reading development: Cognitive outcomes and neural mechanisms. In C. Stevens, E. Pakulak, M. S. Segretin & S. J. Lipina (Eds.), Neuroscientific Perspectives on Poverty (pp. 153-182). Erice, Italy: International Mind, Brain and Education School (Ettore Majorana Foundation for Scientific Culture).

Summary: This chapter focuses on the relationship between reading development and socioeconomic status (SES), with attention to both cognitive outcomes and neural mechanisms.

Asociaciones entre el nivel socioeconomic y el Desarrollo de la lectura: Resultados cognitivos y mecanismos neurales

Romeo, R.R., Imhof, A.M., Bhatia, P., & Christodoulou, J.A. (2019). Asociaciones entre el nivel socioeconomic y el Desarrollo de la lectura: Resultados cognitivos y mecanismos neurales. In S.J. Lipina & M.S. Segretin (Eds.), Exploraciones neurocientíficas de la pobreza (pp. 166-198). Erice, Italy: International Mind, Brain and Education School (Ettore Majorana Foundation for Scientific Culture). ISBN 978-987-86-2055-8.

Summary: This chapter is a translation in Spanish of Romeo et al. (2020).

Socioeconomic status and reading disability: Neuroanatomy and plasticity in response to intervention

Romeo, R. R., Christodoulou, J. A., Halverson, K. K., Murtagh, J., Cyr, A. B., Schimmel, C., Chang, P., Hook, P. E., & Gabrieli, J. D. E. (2018). Socioeconomic status and reading disability: Neuroanatomy and plasticity in response to intervention. Cerebral Cortex, 28(7), 2297–2312. https://doi.org/10.1093/cercor/bhx131 

Summary: Effective summer reading intervention is coupled with cortical growth, and is especially beneficial for children with RD who come from lower-SES home environments.

Reading: Insights on a common skill from uncommon cases

Christodoulou, J.A. (2017). Reading: Insights on a common skill from uncommon cases. In M.S. Schwartz & E.J. Pare-Blagoev (Eds.), Research in Mind, Brain and Education, 1st edition. New York: Routledge. https://doi.org/10.4324/9781315670621a 

Summary: This chapter explores the importance of understanding vulnerable learners in the context of their learning settings.

Dispelling the myth: Training in education or neuroscience decreases but does not eliminate beliefs in neuromyths

Macdonald, K., Germine, L., Anderson, A., Christodoulou, J. A., & McGrath, L. M. (2017). Dispelling the myth: Training in education or neuroscience decreases but does not eliminate beliefs in neuromyths. Frontiers in Psychology, 8, 1314. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2017.01314 

Summary: This study is the first to use a large sample from the United States to compare the prevalence and predictors of neuromyths among educators, the general public, and individuals with high neuroscience exposure. We found that a core group of 7 “classic” neuromyths factored together (items related to learning styles, dyslexia, the Mozart effect, the impact of sugar on attention, right-brain/left-brain learners, and using 10% of the brain). The general public endorsed the greatest number of neuromyths, with significantly fewer by educators, and still fewer endorsed by the high neuroscience exposure group. The two most commonly endorsed neuromyths across all groups were related to learning styles and dyslexia.