Family Brain Program - Intergenerational Neuroimaging
Location: UConn & UCSF
Age: Families w/children ages 7-12 years old
Currently Recruiting Study Participants: Yes
Genes and the environment together shape how the brain works. However, the details of this complex interaction, as well as how it impacts parent-child brain similarity, is currently understudied. Our innovative study seeks to answer these questions, providing unique insight into how language, math, and reading abilities are transmitted over generations.
We are inviting families who have used assisted reproductive technologies (such as IVF) and families with naturally conceived children to participate by taking a series of brain scans and paper and pencil tests. Your participation will help us understand the unique evolutionary basis of linguistic and mathematical functions in the brain.
Brain Letterbox Study - UCSF
Location: University of California, San Francisco (UCSF)
Age: Children 7 - 12 years old & adults
Currently recruiting participants: No
Learning to read triggers a series of changes in brain structure and function. Among those, the most striking is the specialization of the brain’s “letterbox”, a region of visual cortex, a region of visual cortex which learns to process letters and words. Although lower activation of the brain’s letterbox is a landmark of dyslexia, we currently do not understand the core differences between people with dyslexia and typical readers in how this region processes words.
The purpose of this study is to better understand how the brain encodes words, how these representations develop, and how they differ in dyslexia. Achieving a better understanding of these processes will help us in the long run to better support children with dyslexia.
Mechanisms Underlying Mind-Body Interventions & Measurement of Emotional Well-Being: M3EWB
The M3EWB Network is part of a collaborative web of research hubs funded by the National Institute of Health to advance the study of a variety of facets of emotional well-being. Our team of interdisciplinary researchers have come together to build consensus on a definition of EWB, explore existing measurement of EWB and contribute to gaps in this area (e.g., adapting and validating measures of EWB for children and adolescents), and investigate the relationship between Mind-Body Interventions and EWB (i.e., whereby EWB may be and outcome or mediator of improved mental and physical health).
For more information, visit our M3EWB project website!
B.R.A.I.N. CAMP @ UConn
Location: UConn Storrs Campus
Age: Incoming 3rd & 4th graders
Currently recruiting study participants: Yes
This July and August of 2021, we will be offering a FREE one-month Summer BRAIN CAMP for rising 3rd and 4th graders who need extra help with reading. This will be located at the UConn campus in Storrs, CT. We have limited spots available and parents/children must apply first to confirm their eligibility. This is a perfect opportunity for your child or student to gain firsthand learning and reading assistance in an engaging, summer camp setting. We are inviting families to apply and complete the eligibility screener on the camp website.
BRAIN CAMP
· is free (includes lunch, snacks and materials)
· is about 6 hours on a school-type schedule
· runs Monday-Friday for 1 month—mid-June/July or mid-July/August
· is for rising 3rd and 4th graders with reading difficulties that
· takes place at UConn Storrs campus, summer of 2021,
· includes reading, math, or attention and memory-building activities
· includes fun non-academic activities,
RESCUE Project
Location: Nationwide (online)
Age: Educators and parents with children in Grades K, 1 and 2
Currently recruiting participants: Yes, until end of March, 2021
The COVID-19 pandemic has led to school closure since March of 2020. Most students will continue distance learning or a hybrid model where in-person instruction is minimal. The closure will likely have major impact on academic and socio-emotional development. Researchers think that 35% of the learning to read was already lost by the start of the school year in the fall of 2020. This is known as the COVID-slide.
GOALS
To offer state-of-the-art researcher-developed computer-adaptive reading instructional tool (GraphoLearn) and progress monitoring results (Star) to teachers, families and their students.
To quantify the impact of the COVID slide.
To test if EdTech (GraphoLearn) can prevent the COVID slide and how.
Adult Reading Strategies Program @ UCONN
Location: UConn Storrs Campus
Age: 18-50 years old
Currently recruiting participants: Yes
This New England based research project is a federally-funded study examining brain mechanisms of reading and dyslexia in young adults. It integrates multiple, cutting-edge neuroimaging techniques to uncover the flexibility and resilience in adult brains with dyslexia. We hope this research will progress current models of reading intervention and promote successful compensatory strategies for both children and adults with dyslexia.
Learning Success Program - Bilingualism & Literacy Acquisition @ UCSF
Location: UCSF
Age: Kindergarteners
Currently recruiting participants: No
We began a large-scale neuroimaging study in 2015 looking at how children learning two (or more) languages learn to read from kindergarten to 3rd grade. Our efforts include Spanish and Chinese speakers learning to read in English and their native languages and English speakers learning to read in English. The goal of this project is to test and evaluate models of literacy acquisition. In addition, we study the impact that learning multiple languages may have on cognition, socio-emotional skills and creativity. We ultimately hope to help teachers develop instructional strategies to maximize English language learners’ success in the classroom and beyond.
Project Collaborators
Uchikoshi (UC Davis), Leung (USF), Kovelman (U Michigan), McBride-Chang (U Hong Kong), Siegel (U British Columbia), Carreiras (BCBL), Pugh (Haskins)
AppRISE: Application for Readiness in Schools and Learning Evaluation
AppRISE is a fun, universal screener that assesses school readiness and dyslexia risk in young learners in the form of a gamified app. The app is designed for all young children 3 to 8, including English learners and those with or at-risk for developing learning disabilities. Designed to be as reliable as conventional assessments, AppRISE measures a range of literacy and cognitive skills and will help identify risk for reading and other learning disabilities that will allow early intervention.
Social and Emotional Learning @ UCSF
We are examining the neurobiological and affective/cognitive underpinnings of socio-emotional constructs, such as motivation, grit, resilience, mindset, and stereotype threat. Understanding the intricacies underlying common socio-emotional constructs may help us to tease apart their similarities and differences, and develop targeted interventions based on a student’s personal needs. The ultimate goal of this research is to enhance student learning from a holistic perspective, believing that it is not just cognitive abilities that influence academic and life success.
We have developed and are in the process of developing a number of tools related to this focus, such as outreach materials for underserved populations, teacher training modules with student activities, and a comprehensive tool of assessment.
For more information, visit our SEL project website or contact SEL@ucsf.edu.
Volunteers Wanted for a Social and Emotional Learning Study:
Study on socio-emotional competencies in children and adolescents
• For parents with children ages 11-14 years old
• Students with Specific Learning Disabilities, ADHD, or any learning difference are encouraged to participate.
Project Collaborators
Gabe Friedman (Eye to Eye National), Mariel Henkoff (Eye to Eye National)
The Effect of Mentoring on Social and Emotional Learning in Learning Disabilities (LD)
Eye to Eye manages a network of mentoring programs that pairs LD/ADHD elementary and middle school students with similarly identified college and high school students. The partnership between Eye to Eye and brainLENS will spark an initiative for rigorous and nation-wide evaluation of the effect of one-to-one mentoring on social and emotional learning in LD adolescents in 50 chapters spanning 20 states. We will assess mentees with a comprehensive tool on social and emotional skills (S-E Toolkit) before they enter the mentoring program and chart their progress over a course of two years. This project is funded by the Oak Foundation.
Multiband Imaging of Auditory Processing
This study will examine how brain structure and chemistry relate to neural oscillations in auditory brain regions. It will help us understand the neurobiological underpinnings of dyslexia and related disorders from the levels of neurotransmitters, electrophysiological signal to large-scale brain networks and link to behavior, which will allow more targeted interventions.
Other Key Projects:
1. UCSF Dylexia Center: http://dyslexia.ucsf.edu
2. Haskins Global [Language and Literacy Innovation Hub] with the goal of improving language and literacy outcomes for at risk children, across languages and cultures. http://haskinsglobal.org
