Neural and Genetic Basis of Language and Reading Development

The aim of this research program is to track how aspects of language and cognition (including working memory, attention, and executive functions) are represented and processed in the developing brain, and determine how environmental factors such as language background (i.e. bilingualism, biliteracy) shape the neurodevelopmental trajectories of these key linguistic and cognitive skills, and literacy outcomes.
Chinese-, Spanish-, and English-speaking children and adults are invited to participate.

Current studies in this research program include:

• Cross-linguistic influences on morphological and orthographic processing underlying the development of reading in the bilingual brain. (With Dr. Li Sheng, Communication Sciences and Disorders, University of Delaware; PhD Student: Sarah Wang)
• Developing cognitive skills that shape a young child's capacity to understand complex language constructions such as scalar implicatures. (PhD Student: Alyssa Kampa)
• fNIRS and fMRI tracking of neurodevelopmental changes supporting emergent literacy. (With Dr. Ken Pugh, Haskins Laboratories)
• Relation between genes COMT and BDNF and the structural and functional development of the brain. (With Dr. Nicole Landi, University of Connecticut)

Allô Alphabet: Technology-based Literacy Intervention in Low-Resource, Low-Literacy Settings

Learning to read depends not only on having access to education, but on having access to quality education.  In this research program, we develop a  technology-based literacy intervention program for remote, rural communities of Côte d’Ivoire with the goal of providing  quality, evidence-based educational programming via mobile phone to complement the school curriculum. No existing literacy intervention programs in Cote d'Ivoire currently offer scalable solutions to quickly address the problems of widespread student literacy failures. Our interdisciplinary approach combines expertise in literacy development, tech-based education solutions, and human-computer interaction in order to examine how technology-based literacy intervention, and its effective implementation and scalability, can improve literacy outcomes in communities with high illiteracy rates. We combine multiple research tools from the learning sciences (language, cognitive, and literacy assessment, longitudinal neuroimaging of the brain's reading networks, and evaluation of technology use and integration into the community) to find an optimal and scalable strategy for literacy intervention that can be adopted in Côte d'Ivoire and throughout sub-Saharan Africa.

Research Partners: ENEZA Education; Dr. Amy Ogan, Carnegie Mellon University

Jasinska Research Team: Dr. Herman Akpe, Fabrice Tanoh,

Funding: Jacobs Foundation Research Grant (Co-PI: K. Jasinska)

Tracking the Neuroplasticity of the Speech Cortex and Language Outcomes in Children with Cochlear Implants

Hearing loss is one of the most common birth defects in the United States affecting approximately 3 in 1,000 newborns. Depending on the degree of hearing loss, deaf and hard-of-hearing (DHH) infants receive interventions that may include cochlear implants (CI). Nevertheless, there is a huge amount of variability in these children’s linguistic and academic outcomes. The amount/type of therapy that children receive, as well as the language input they are exposed to are thought to contribute (to some degree) to this variability. Additionally, the age of implantation is considered one of the strongest predictors of language outcomes for DHH children, since lack of exposure to sound early in life affects the development of the brain’s auditory processing areas. But not all children implanted at the same age achieve the same language skills. Could there be factors at the neural level that make it easier (or harder) to process speech and acquire language once the brain gains access to sound through the CI? The mechanism by which the brain adapts to a new sensory modality following implantation and begins to perceive the relevant speech stream in a range of listening environments (including noisy contexts that may negatively impact speech processing), and the implication for developing language skills remain poorly understood. We combine two cutting edge technologies (fNIRS and eye-tracking) to examine dynamic changes in neuroplasticity and organization of neural pathways for speech perception and language skills right after implantation. Our research may help predict language outcomes and explain the high degree of individual variability observed in children with CIs. Children requiring additional support could be identified earlier, preventing language delays and later academic problems.

Research Partners: Dr. Giovanna Morini, Communication Sciences and Disorders, University of Delaware;

Dr. Thierry Morlet, Nemours Children's Health System (PhD Student: Shakhlo Nematova)

Soutenir Les Enfants à la Maison et à l'École (SEME) / Supporting Children at Home and School

Côte d’Ivoire (CIV) ranks 170 of 189 countries in the Human Development Index and is also the largest producer of cocoa in the world. In rural cocoa-producing communities, poverty is rampant and has reached levels as high as 61.2%, with many households surviving on $1-2 a day. Cocoa accounts for 74% of total income for the average cocoa-growing household in Côte d’Ivoire, creating a great reliance on the crop. The pressure to produce cocoa often means it is a family affair—it is estimated that 1.3 million school-aged children (out of a population of 3.7 million) are working in cocoa production (Tulane University, 2015), largely concentrated in rural areas. At the same time, the government is committed to expanding educational access through universal basic education for all children. Yet educational quality and learning outcomes are very low, especially in cocoa growing regions. The lack of quality and relevant education can also push children out of school and into family farming.  SEME is a two-pronged approach to address both poverty and educational outcomes, testing individually and in combination two interventions: cash transfers (CT) and educational-quality improvement. This model has the potential to deliver substantially greater results per dollar than current standard practice, which tackles each source independently. SEME examines how improving educational quality and reducing poverty can reduce child labor and improve children's learning outcomes.

Research Team: Dr. Amy Ogan, CMU; Dr. Sharon Wolf, UPenn; Dr. Samuel Kembou, Lausanne; Fabrice Tanoh, UFHB

Implementation Partners: 100WEEKS, Teaching at the Right Level

Funding: Child Learning and Education Facility (CLEF) (Co-PI: K. Jasinska)

Impact of interrupted schooling on neurodevelopment for reading in resettled refugee children

As children learn to read, brain regions associated with visual and language processing form specialized cortical circuits involving predominantly left-hemisphere occipitotemporal, temporoparietal, and frontal regions—the brain’s ‘reading network’. Reading experience drives the functional neural specialization for reading. To date, the critical role of experience in functional neural specialization has remained unexamined because most research has only examined neurodevelopmental trajectories for reading in children with reading experience— children who begin formal literacy instruction when they enroll in school at a government-mandated age (6 years). Our existing approaches to studying the emergence of reading function in the brain cannot separate the discrete effects of experience and age. An important theoretical advance would be to test how the brain’s reading network forms through reading experience or lack thereof across development. The resettlement of refugee children provides an opportunity to address these outstanding issues. For refugee children, displacement and migration often corresponds to a period of interrupted schooling and limited reading experience. As refugee children of different ages resettle in Canada, they learn a new language and learn to read at school. Individual differences in language and reading experiences among refugee children provide a ‘natural paradigm’ from which we can test specific hypotheses concerning the role of experience in functional neural specialization for reading. We use functional neuroimaging to examine the emergence of neural systems for reading in children who have experienced variable periods of interrupted schooling and resumed schooling/learning to read at different ages. Examining the role of experience in the functional neural specialization for reading will provide important theoretical and practical insights—we gain a deeper understanding of the development of neural systems across diverse developmental experiences, and the changing plasticity of neural systems across development.

Research Partners: Dr. Becky Chen (University of Toronto)

Funding: Connaught New Researcher Award (PI: K. Jasinska)