Recently we mourned the loss of Diana Hanbury King who passed away at the age of 90. A pioneer in the field of dyslexia intervention, Mrs. King was initially mentored by Anna Gillingham (of Orton Gillingham). After working with family members who were dyslexic, she sta...

For the last nine years, colleagues and I have directed a remedial summer literacy program for elementary-aged struggling readers, many of whom are dyslexic. The children, enrolled by their parents, approached the experience with mix of optimism, trepidation, and dread...

Naming Speed has been identified as an important contributor to students' reading ability but compared to other cognitive processes it is relatively unknown among practitioners. Here are the basics. 

What is Naming Speed? 

Naming speed is a measurement of students' abili...

Working memory provides a mental workspace in which students can temporarily hold information before using it, or committing long term memory.  Answering comprehension questions, conveying thoughts through writing, completing multi-step tasks, following classroom direc...

Previously, we discussed the important role working memory plays in reading, impacting both accuracy and comprehension. The question remains, how to best support the development of reading skills among those students with weaknesses in working memory. 

Training Working...

Working memory is a frequent topic of conversation among educators and researchers. It's popularity is partially due its fundamental role in overall achievement, and partially due to it's ambiguous nature. When students' struggle, distinguishing between the weaknesses...

Vocabulary knowledge is often considered the number of words in a student’s lexicon or the breadth of their oral language ability. Yet the depth of knowledge about individual words also plays a significant role in children’s reading. Nearly three quarters of words chil...

Why do many students with dyslexia struggle to develop fluency despite years of remediation? An alternate framework for understanding fluency development can provide insights.

During my decade at the Tufts' Center for Reading and Language Research, I've fielded many questions about  reading, but the most common inquires revolve around fluency. That's simply because fluency is a highly complex process that requires the reader to automatically...