Dyslexia Across Languages: Orthography and the Brain-Gene-Behavior Link

Diane August, Ph.D., is an independent consultant as well as a senior research scientist at the Center for Applied Linguistics in Washington, D.C. At the Center for Applied Linguistics, she directs a large, federally funded study investigating the development of literacy in English language learners. She is also the Staff Director for the National Literacy Panel on Language Minority Children and Youth. As an educational consultant, Dr. August has worked in the areas of literacy, program improvement, evaluation and testing, and federal and state education policy. She has been a senior program officer at the National Academy of Sciences and Study Director for the Committee on Developing a Research Agenda on the Education of Limited English Proficient and Bilingual Students. Dr. August worked for 10 years as a public school teacher and school administrator in California. Subsequently, she served as Legislative Assistant in the area of education for a United States Congressman from California, worked as a grants officer for the Carnegie Corporation of New York, and served as Director of Education for the Children's Defense Fund. In 1981, she received her doctorate in education from Stanford University, and in 1982, she completed a postdoctoral fellowship in psychology, also at Stanford. Dr. Fitch received her B.S. from Duke University and her Ph.D. in biobehavioral sciences (concentration in developmental psychobiology) from The University of Connecticut. Her research centers on understanding how the disruption of early brain development underlies subsequent cognitive disabilities, with a particular focus on risk factors for language-relevant skills. Topics of research include animal models of brain damage typical of premature and term birth insult, as well as animal models for genetic risk factors associated with cognitive disability. Dr. Lee is an experimental psychologist by training. He is working on the issues of reading acquisition, reading disabilities, reading instruction, and bilingualism. Dr. LoTurco is Professor of Physiology and Neurobiology at the University of Connecticut, Department of Physiology and Neurobiology in Storrs, CT. Heikki J. Lyytinen, Ph.D., Professor, Department of Developmental Neuropsychology, University of Jyvaskyla, 40014 University of Jyvaskyla, Jyvaskyla, Finland. Dr. Lyytinen is the principal investigator of the Jyvaskyla Longitudinal Study of Dyslexia, which has revealed how to identify children in need of support in their reading acquisition. This work motivated him to lead the development process of Graphogame technology, which has now initiated worldwide efforts to provide mobile learning game-based support globally via the Grapholearn Initiative. Peggy McCardle, Ph.D., M.P.H., Chief, Child Development and Behavior Branch, Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development, National Institutes of Health, 6100 Executive Boulevard, Suite 4B05, Rockville, MD 20852-7510. Dr. McCardle has been a classroom teacher and has served as faculty at various universities and as a speech-language pathologist in hospitals and medical centers.In addition to her duties as Branch Chief, she directs the Language, Bilingualism and Biliteracy Program and developed various branch programs in literacy. She is a co-editor of several volumes and has served as guest editor of thematic journal issues on reading, bilingualism, and English language learner research. She is committed to the importance of ongoing research on child health, development, and learning and to ensuring that important research results are shared with the practice community so that they can improve the lives of children. W. Einar Mencl, Ph.D., Director, Neuroimaging Research, Haskins Laboratories, 300 George Street, New Haven, CT 06515. Dr. Mencl received his Ph.D. in expe