Elizabeth S. Norton, Ph.D

Associate Professor of Communication Sciences and Disorders
Charles McCormick Deering Professor of Teaching Excellence
Northwestern University
 

Shifting our brain and behavior development research approaches to gain new insights into language and reading disorders

Developmental language and reading disorders are highly prevalent, affecting approximately 15% of children and causing lifelong difficulties, yet today, children must demonstrate substantial difficulty in these areas before receiving a diagnosis and gaining access to intervention. Even with the widespread use of child-friendly neuroimaging techniques over the past decades, little progress has been made in understanding why these disorders occur or how effectively identify them so that early treatment can be provided when children are in a phase of greatest neuroplasticitiy. In this talk, I describe three major shifts in research approaches designed to move the dial on characterizing the etiology and improving and early identification of reading and language disorders. These shifts are: 1) integrating information from multiple sources including child behavior, brain activity, and family factors, 2) embracing the substantial individual variation in development rather than relying on group averages, and 3) measuring brain and behavior earlier in the developmental course and using more naturalistic approaches. I will discuss results from studies that implement these practices and their alignment with the ongoing national NIH Healthy Brain and Child Development (HBCD) study.