Study Title: Improving Classification and Identification for Two Kinds of Specific Learning Disorders in Reading (Learning Disabilities Translational Science Collective: Building on the Florida LDRC)
Principal Investigator: Mercedes Spencer, Ph.D.
IRB Study Numbers: FSU IRB #: STUDY00004229 and NU IRB #: STU00219502
We are currently inviting second grade teachers and their students and parents to participate in a research study being conducted by the Reading, Education, and Development (READ) Laboratory at Northwestern University. This study aims to further support our understanding of the identification and treatment of children with specific learning disabilities in word reading and reading comprehension and is part of a recently awarded multi-site research collaborative that is funded by the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development/National Institutes of Health (NICHD/NIH).
Teachers:
- Teachers must be second-grade classroom teachers.
- Teachers will be asked to:
- Help distribute and collect study documents (consent forms and parent flyers) and identify participating students for the research team during testing. Parental consent is required before a child/student can participate in the study.
- Allow us to administer tests during the academic year that will be split across two days. One day for screening (~60-75 min) and one day for follow-up testing (~90 min) for students who meet study eligibility after screening; not all students who are screened will receive follow-up testing.
- Support efforts to identify appropriate testing areas and testing times for student assessment during the school day.
- Complete a questionnaire that requests their demographic information and two questionnaires that ask about the executive function and attention skills of each participating student in their classroom (~25 min per participating student). These questionnaires can be completed online.
- The research team will convert students’ school address into geographic coordinates to identify factors related to neighborhood, health, violence, and child welfare.
- Teachers will be compensated for their participation.
Parents and Children:
- Child participants must be in second grade when they first start the study, be English speaking, have no previous diagnosis of intellectual disability or known IQ below 80, and/or have no known uncorrectable vision impairment or hearing impairment.
- Parents will be asked to:
- Complete a verbal screening call to determine initial eligibility.
- Complete questionnaires that ask about themselves as well as their child’s background, home environment, and language experience and proficiency and family history of learning difficulties (~40 min). These questionnaires can be completed online.
- Children: Child participants will be asked to complete cognitive-behavioral testing at school that is split across two days (~60-75 min for screening and ~90 min follow-up if eligible for the full study).
- The research team will convert the parent/child home address and the child’s school address into geographic coordinates to identify factors related to neighborhood, health, violence, and child welfare.
- Parents/children will be compensated for their participation.
View our study materials!
• For districts: https://readlab.northwestern.edu/improving-classification-and-identification-for-two-kinds-of-specific-learning-disorders-in-reading-learning-disabilities-translational-science-collective-building-on-the-florida-ldrc-districts/
• For schools and parents: If you are interested in potentially participating in this study, please share this website link with your district administrator.
If you have any questions, please contact the research team at readlab@northwestern.edu or at (847) 467-0205. You may also contact Dr. Mercedes Spencer directly at mercedes.spencer@northwestern.edu or at (847) 467-1568.