In order to attain our goals, we set up a research program in which fundamental and applied research are integrated. The program puts a strong emphasis on the societal and clinical relevance of the lines of research.

Research program

Line 1: Normal and abnormal development from novice to fluent reader

In this line of research, normal and abnormal development of fluent reading are investigated. The objective is to provide a new window on the neural mechanisms involved in a developmental pathway from novice to expert reader, and thereby also allowing interpretations for neural network anomalies in dyslexia, and to identify success factors in reading fluency intervention for children with dyslexia.

Line 2: Interventions of reading and spelling disabilities

This line of research addresses the intervention of reading and spelling disabilities from both an experimental and a clinical perspective. Research focuses on effective mechanisms of intervention of disfluent reading, on treatment induced neurocognitive changes in the reading network, on clinically meaningful effects of dyslexia treatment.

Line 3: Second language acquisition

The relationship between dyslexia and second language acquisition is addressed in this line of research. Our aim is to gain insight in the impact of dyslexia on different components of second language acquisition, as well as to develop effective interventions for literacy skills in second language of children with dyslexia.

Line 4: Reading motivation: precursors, consequences and interventions

In this line of research, our focus is on cognitive and environmental factors that are involved in reading motivation, as well as on the impact of reading motivation on literacy skills and academic skills in general. In addition, a training will be developed and evaluated which addresses reading motivation and reading comprehension of students with disadvantaged socioeconomic backgrounds.

Line 5: Math skills and the processing of symbolic and non-symbolic number magnitudes

In this project, we investigate whether children with math problems are disabled in the representation of number magnitudes (defective number module hypothesis) or in the activation of number magnitude representations from symbols rather (access deficit hypothesis).