Grant: CIHR Fellowship

An alarming 9% of children persistently struggle with the basics of reading, a condition known as reading disability (RD). RD interferes with a child's academic achievement across subjects and can cause problems with self-esteem and mental health. Early intervention is key to ensuring the best outcomes in children with RD, but identifying children at risk in early childhood presents a major challenge. Looking into the brain can provide markers to identify young children at risk of RD. I will apply advanced brain imaging techniques to precisely define brain traits associated with reading ability that may serve as early indicators of risk for RD. I will combine information across different types of brain imaging to discover features of brain tissue structure and folding that are linked to reading skills. Finally, I will study the development of these brain features over the preschool and early school years to identify which traits change as children learn to read, and which traits remain stable over time. Together, these findings will provide information about possible indicators of risk for RD in early childhood and give insight to the brain changes that occur as children learn to read. This will help researchers and teachers to understand the brain differences underlying reading difficulties and develop targeted intervention practices to improve outcomes for children with or at risk of RD.