Brain, Behavior, and Learning in Language and Reading Disorders

Grounded in cutting-edge research on brain–behavior relationships, this book explores how language and reading disorders develop--and presents exciting new approaches to examining and treating them. Experts from multiple disciplines investigate how children's learning trajectories in spoken and written language are shaped by the dynamic interplay of neurobiological, experiential, and behavioral processes. The volume includes innovative neuroimaging applications and other state-of-the-science techniques that help shed new light on childhood disorders such as dyslexia, language impairment, writing disabilities, and autism. Implications for evidence-based diagnosis, intervention, and instruction are discussed. Illustrations include five color plates.

Educational Review

"Has the potential to become a groundbreaking book in the area of reading and language disorders. For too long now brain research in reading has been predominantly focused on localized areas of the brain, although it has always been understood that there are many interactive components in relation to the neurological and cognitive processes in language and reading development. This book however does more than acknowledge this, it actively seeks to present clear and justifiable multidimensional perspectives, allowing the key concept of individual differences to be explored within a scientific framework....The book contains cutting-edge chapters from well-known and highly regarded researchers and authors....This book has a consistent theme, is well edited, and the contributors and choice of chapters carefully selected. It will prove to be an excellent reference source for researchers and for those professionals seeking to develop their understanding of the neurological, biological, and the cognitive processes involved in reading in order to justify and re-evaluate their practice."--Educational Review

Maria Mody, PhD, is a cognitive neuroscientist in the Department of Radiology at Massachusetts General Hospital and Harvard Medical School, specializing in developmental disorders of reading and language. She is a member of the faculty in the Health Sciences and Technology Program at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and also teaches in the Department of Communication Sciences and Disorders at Emerson College. Dr. Mody uses a variety of neuroimaging methods to examine the relationship between spoken language and reading in normal and atypical development. Her work is supported by funding from the National Institutes of Health and the Mental Illness and Neuroscience Discovery Institute in Albuquerque, New Mexico. She is a past Associate Editor of the Journal of Speech, Language, and Hearing Research and has published in a variety of journals.

Elaine R. Silliman, PhD, is Professor of Communication Sciences and Disorders and Cognitive and Neural Sciences at the University of South Florida. She is a Fellow of the American Speech-Language-Hearing Association (ASHA) and the International Academy for Research on Learning Disabilities. She also holds the Honors of the New York State Speech-Language-Hearing Association and the Distinguished Alumni Achievement Award from the Graduate Center of the City University of New York. Dr. Silliman is a past Editor of the ASHA journal Language, Speech, and Hearing Services in Schools.. Her research has appeared in a wide variety of journals, and she is the author or coauthor of 18 chapters and coeditor of five books. Dr. Silliman’s current research interests include the development of academic language proficiency in children struggling with reading, writing, and spelling.