Learning Disabilities

Jack M. Fletcher, PhD, is the Hugh Roy and Lillie Cranz Cullen Distinguished University Professor of Psychology at the University of Houston. Since the 1970s, Dr. Fletcher, a child neuropsychologist, has completed research on many issues related to learning disabilities, including definition and classification, neurobiological correlates, and intervention, and has written over 400 articles in peer-reviewed journals. He is Principal Investigator of the Texas Center for Learning Disabilities, has served on and chaired the Mental Retardation/Developmental Disabilities study section of the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD), and is a former member of the NICHD National Advisory Council and the President's Commission on Excellence in Special Education. He is a recipient of the Samuel Torrey Orton Award from the International Dyslexia Association and the Albert J. Harris Award from the International Literacy Association. Dr. Fletcher is a past president of the International Neuropsychological Society. G. Reid Lyon, PhD, is Distinguished Scientist Emeritus in Neuroscience and Cognition at the Center for Brain Health, The University of Texas at Dallas. He is also Distinguished Professor Emeritus at Southern Methodist University, where he served as Associate Dean of the Annette Caldwell Simmons School of Education and Human Development and Chair of the Department of Education Policy and Leadership. He served on the Maternal and Child Health study section of the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD) and chaired the NICHD Learning Disability Research Centers Reading Development and Disorders study sections. Dr. Lyon has published over 135 articles, books, and book chapters addressing dyslexia, classification and definition of learning disabilities, developmental neuroimaging, neurophysiological correlates of reading interventions, and the development of gist reasoning in adolescents. He is a recipient of the Director's Award for Scientific Leadership in Neuroscience and Learning Disabilities from the National Institutes of Health and of the Norman Geschwind Memorial Lecture and the Samuel Torrey Orton Award from the International Dyslexia Association. Lynn S. Fuchs, PhD, is the Dunn Family Endowed Chair of Psychoeducational Assessment, Special Education, and Human Development at Vanderbilt University. She is among the most highly cited researchers in the social sciences (according to Thomson Reuters); has published more than 350 articles in peer-reviewed journals; and serves on the editorial boards of many journals, including the Journal of Educational Psychology, Scientific Studies of Reading, Elementary School Journal, Journal of Learning Disabilities, and Exceptional Children. Her research focuses on classroom-based assessment as well as instructional methods for students with reading disabilities and math disabilities. In addition, Dr. Fuchs has conducted programmatic research on assessment methods for enhancing instructional planning and on instructional methods for improving reading and math outcomes for students with learning disabilities. Marcia A. Barnes, PhD, is Dunn Family Chair in Psychoeducational Assessment in the Department of Special Education at Vanderbilt University. Previously, she was Professor & H. E. Hartfelder/Southland Corp Regents Chair in the Department of Special Education and Associate Dean for Research and Graduate Studies in the College of Education at The University of Texas at Austin. Her research focuses on math and reading comprehension disabilities in children with and without brain injuries. She also studies the typical development of reading comprehension skills, and has created several paradigms for assessing inference-making in children. Dr. Barnes has published 120 peer-reviewed papers, chapters, and books. She is a member of the editorial board of the Journal of Learning Disabilities and the Journal of Educational Psychology and has served on several national grant review panels in the United States and Canada.