Nebraska Lecture kicked off on April 3, 2017 with the opening speaker, Dr. Victoria Molfese. As an expert in cognitive development of infants, children and adults, she said research on childhood reading has advanced at a rapid pace during the past 30 years. The result is an ever-growing volume of information that may overwhelm parents, teachers, administrators and policymakers who deal with reading impairments at a practical level.
In her lecture, Dr. Molfese will simplify the evidence and promote effective strategies for reading intervention. “Right now, the thought is that if an intervention brings students back to reading at grade level, then their reading skills are fine,” said Dr. Molfese, who serves as associate dean for research in the College of Education and Human Sciences. “But the text children are expected to read becomes increasingly complicated as students advance in grade level and gets harder across content areas. We need to be careful with these students to see if additional intervention is needed in later grades.”
