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Engage in intensive training to understand the neuroscience underlying reading and reading disorders.

Cost: $1,695 per person through May 23, 2025 and $1,795 per person after May 23, 2025
Save $100 per person when registering a group of 3 or more
 

Join Us for This Summer Institute

From July 21 - 25, 2025, Learning & the Brain is offering a Summer Institute on the campus of Boston University.
 

This Institute will review what is currently known about the brain basis of reading ability and disability. Neuroimaging has revealed how plasticity in the child’s brain supports learning to read, and how differences in brain structure and function are associated with reading disabilities, such as dyslexia. You will examine how neuroscience knowledge may be translated into educational policies and practices in relation to topics such as diagnosis, prognosis, early identification of children at risk for dyslexia, and identification of children who will or will not benefit from a specific kind of intervention.

The Institute is designed to be an intense, hands-on workshop with group projects, and therefore is limited to 50 participants.

The Summer Institute Is for:

  • PreK-12 Teachers and Reading Specialists
  • Administrators, School Psychologists, and School Clinicians
  • Education Professors and College Professors

At This Institute, You Will:

  • Become proficient in understanding the brain basis of typical reading acquisition and reading disorders, such as dyslexia
  • Delve deeper into recent advances in understanding the psychological basis of reading difficulty
  • Examine ways neuroscience advances can help to predict reading outcomes
  • Explore how neuroscience research can measure response to interventions
  • Recognize how reading acquisition and disorders differ across languages
  • Evaluate the relevance of neuroscience research for students and teachers and how to be a critical consumer of neuroscience regarding the reading brain

 

About the Institute

This Learning & the Brain Summer Institute will be co-led by Dr. John Gabrieli and Dr. Joanna Christodoulou. This program is designed to help individuals and school teams develop knowledge about current scientific evidence concerning the brain basis of learning to read, and how such evidence may be related to education goals. The program offers participants an intensive professional development experience, drawing on the most up-to-date findings in human cognitive neuroscience.

Attendees will be housed and all sessions will take place at the 10 Buick Street complex on the campus of Boston University in Boston, MA. Lodging, some meals, and course materials are provided. See the online schedule for meals provided.

About Dr. John D. E. Gabrieli

John D.E. Gabrieli, PhD, is a neuroscientist at MIT and a member of the McGovern Institute for Brain Research. He is a faculty member in the Department of Brain and Cognitive Sciences, Director of the Martinos Imaging Center, and a Member of the Faculty of Education at the Harvard Graduate School of Education.

Dr. Gabrieli is an expert on the brain mechanisms of human cognition, including memory, thought, and emotion. His work includes neuroimaging studies on healthy adults and children as well as clinical patients with many different brain disorders, including schizophrenia, depression, Alzheimer's disease, autism, and dyslexia.

One of his major current interests is dyslexia, in particular the use of brain imaging to identify children who are at risk for reading difficulties and to understand how reading instruction affects the brain. In 2008, Gabrieli was elected as a fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, which cited his "penetrating analyses of the nature of human memory."

About Dr. Joanna Christodoulou

Joanna A. Christodoulou, EdD, is a Professor at the MGH Institute of Health Professions, and Adjunct Lecturer at the Harvard Graduate School of Education, and is a Research Affiliate at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. She works at the intersection of education, clinical, and research contexts.

She leads the Brain, Education, and Mind (BEAM) Team to study the brain and behavior links underlying reading development and difficulty. Current research focuses on reading intervention and summer reading growth. She was awarded the 2014 award for Transforming Education Through Neuroscience Award from the Learning & the Brain Foundation and the International Mind, Brain, and Education Society and was invited to join the first White House Workshop on Neuroscience and Learning.

Professional Development Credit:

Earn up to 20 hours toward professional development credit for various professionals. For details on credit offered, visit our CE credit page or call our office at 857-444-1500 ext. 1. Note: credits are not provided by Boston University.

Accommodations and Meals:
Interaction between faculty and participants outside the classroom is an integral part of the Institute. To foster this total immersion learning environment, participants are housed in shared apartments with their own bedrooms in a dormitory on the campus of Boston University in Boston, MA. The apartments contain four bedrooms and two bathrooms and are located at 10 Buick Street.  The institute provides four nights lodging with an arrival date of July 21 and a departure date of July 25.  Boston University is located in the city of Boston, close to Kenmore Square and Fenway Park and along the "T" with easy access to all the sites of Boston. All facilities are ADA compliant. If you are interested in making your own accommodations off-campus or would like to arrange an early arrival on campus, please call us at 857-444-1500 x1. Please check the online schedule for information on the meals provided.