The US National Institutes of Health announces funding for learning disabilities research centers
January 17, 2012
Funding for four centers to conduct research on the causes and treatment of learning disabilities in children and adolescents has been provided by the National Institutes of Health.
The centers were established in 1989 by the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD). The NICHD Learning Disabilities Research Centers are supported by the institute’s Child Development and Behavior Branch. Funding for the centers is provided on a competitive basis and was previously awarded in 2006. Learning disabilities affect the way the brain processes information and can affect speaking, listening, reading or writing, or mathematics ability.
The award recipients are:
- Colorado Learning Disabilities Research Center at the University of Colorado at Boulder
- Texas Center for Learning Disabilities at the University of Houston
- NIH Multidisciplinary Learning Disabilities Center at Florida State University, Tallahassee
- The Center for Defining and Treating Specific Learning Disabilities in Written Language at the University of Washington, Seattle
In the past, efforts to understand learning disabilities have concentrated heavily on dyslexia, or reading impairment. Previously, researchers emphasized an understanding of how children decipher printed text, known as decoding, but the new centers will emphasize reading comprehension — how children understand what they read.
The centers will also increase their emphasis on understanding how individuals learn to write and the best ways to teach writing to children with learning disabilities and typically achieving children.