Nadine Gaab

Nadine’s work focuses on typical/atypical learning trajectories from infancy to adolescence, with a special emphasis on language/reading development and the role of the environment in shaping these trajectories. Her work is at the intersection of developmental psychology, learning sciences, neuroscience, EdTech, and educational policy within a learning disability framework. Her research laboratory employs longitudinal behavioral and neuroimaging studies to characterize differences in learning as a complex outcome of cumulative risk and protective factors interacting within and across genetic, neurobiological, cognitive, and environmental levels from infancy to adolescence. Her theoretical work focuses on multifactorial frameworks of learning differences with an emphasis on early identification and ‘preventive education’. One important key aspect of her work is the translation of research findings to address contemporary challenges in educational practice and policy.

She is the 2019 recipient of the Learning Disabilities Association America Award for her work on learning disabilities and has received the Norman Geschwind Memorial lecture 2020 and the Alice Garside Award from the International Dyslexia Association for outstanding leadership in advancing the science and advocacy of dyslexia. Outside of her academic work, she is the co-founder of EarlyBird Education, a gamified platform system for identifying children at-risk for language-based learning disabilities.