Reading Brain Labs

Did you know there were reading brain labs that study how kids learn to read?

“The theory of the fourth-grade shift had been based on behavioral data,” says the lead author of the study, Donna Coch. She heads the Reading Brains Lab at Dartmouth College.

We actually ran a reading lab in the summer at Furman for the final practicum of our grad course work. It was fascinating to see how parents, teachers, and students interacted with our professors. They asked question we would have never been asked as classroom teachers because our setting changed.

The process of reading and learning to read and re-learning to read still fascinates me (I mean really here I am writing these words sipping a cup of tea and there you are sitting where you are sitting reading those words on a screen, incredible!) and reminds me of the time spent with students trying to find that switch to flip to help them see they have magic inside their heads that turn symbols into letters, letters into words, and words into sentences.

Trying thinking about that for a bit while you’re reading your favorite book and be thankful for the teachers, parents, and researchers who helped unlock that magic for you. I know I sure am!