Saturday, December 12, 2009

Understanding Dyslexia

I read in the recent annual report from Yale's development folks that one of our classmates has been funding work on dyslexia:

Julia G. (Morton) Krapf '87, '91 M.A. is funding a new study to better understand the genetics of dyslexia via a grant from the Manton Foundation. Led by Yale School of Medicine scientist Jeffrey R. Gruen, associate professor of pediatrics, genetics, and investigative medicine, the study will compare the complete genomes of 1,000 dyslexic children with 1,000 fluent readers to identify the genes that may play a role in the condition. Gruen's ultimate goal is to develop a genetic test, enabling parents and teachers to intervene at the beginning of a child's education. He said, "If you can identify kids early, by third grade, and get them into an intervention program, you can frequently get them reading up to grade-level, and that effect is long-lasting. That's a wonderful thing."

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