Harvard researcher working to identify students with reading problems at younger ages

CAMBRIDGE, Mass. — A big problem in schools is the troubling number of students who read below their grade level.

Nadine Gaab, Ph.D., an associate professor of education at the Harvard Graduate School of Education, says early detection of a literacy issue is key to a student’s success.

“Often kids are only diagnosed or identified with having problems reading at the end of second or the beginning of third grade, but by that time they’re way behind their peers,” she said.

Gaab says sometimes teachers and parents just seem to shrug it off when a child doesn’t pick up reading right away.

“Some kids learn to read quickly and some struggle, but in the past, we’ve really waited a long time, like ‘Oh, it’s a boy,’ or ‘It’s a summer baby,’ or ‘Some kids are just later bloomers,’” she added.

Gaab’s research has found that a problem reader can be identified as early as 18 months of age by analyzing brain scans from an MRI.

“We recruited infants and some of them had familial risk to develop patterns with reading, some of them did not, like a sibling or a parent with a reading difficulty,” she said. “Then we looked at the brain, their language, and their pre-reading development over time.”

Gaab found that the trajectories between kids with a reading problem and those without started diverging as early as 18 months.

The study included 130 participants.

It’s important to note that Gaab is not suggesting every child get an MRI.

She wants her findings to create greater awareness among educators that literacy problems can be identified well before third grade.

“That really shifts the conversation of how early we should find kids who are at risk of developing problems with reading. It also shifts the conversation about policy.”

Gaab stressed her belief that early help can literally change the course of a child’s life.

“Every child has the right to learn to read, and reading is an essential part of our daily lives, and it’s really important for people’s economic outcomes and academic outcomes.”

Gaab says that struggling with reading also has tremendous implications for a child’s self-esteem and overall mental health.

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