Jason Yeatman is an expert in the neurobiology of literacy whose lab is fostering a virtuous research cycle between academia and school communities, aligning scientific inquiry with real-world needs of students, parents, and educators. His lab has developed ROAR – the Rapid Online Assessment of Reading—a gamified, web-based dyslexia screening tool. ROAR provides fast, precise, and scalable assessments, helping educators identify and get support to struggling students. We’re aligning cutting-edge reading science with the challenges teachers face every day, Yeatman tells host Russ Altman on this episode of Stanford Engineering’s The Future of Everything podcast.

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Episode Reference Links:

• Stanford Profile: Jason Yeatman
• Rapid Online Assessment of Reading (ROAR)
• Jason and his team just launched ROAR@Home BETA, a parent research portal. Any parent who listens can sign up for ROAR here - https://roar.stanford.edu/signup/

Connect With Us:

• Episode Transcripts >>> The Future of Everything Website
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Chapters:

(00:00:00) Introduction

Russ Altman introduces Jason Yeatman, a professor of pediatrics education and psychology at Stanford University.

(00:03:12) Why Reading?

Why Jason dedicated his career to studying reading acquisition.

(00:04:12) Are We Built to Read?

How reading is a relatively new invention using older brain systems.

(00:06:41) Reading as a Continuum

Whether reading ability is distributed like other genetic human traits.

(00:07:53) Defining Dyslexia

Reframing dyslexia as a label for support, not a binary diagnosis.

(00:10:19) Phonological Awareness

Understanding how speech sound recognition underpins reading.

(00:13:37) Nature vs. Nurture

The influence of both genetics and environment in reading ability.

(00:16:40) The Origin of ROAR

An online reading assessment tool created during the pandemic.

(00:19:06) ROAR’s Effectiveness

The accuracy in which ROAR can assess reading capability.

(00:22:45) Reading Interventions That Work

Expanding support with evidence-based interventions for all ages.

(00:25:25) Personalized Diagnoses

Tailoring interventions based on detailed individual skill diagnostics.

(00:26:36) Scaling ROAR

Scaling ROAR via an academic research-practice partnership model.

(00:29:34) Infrastructure Behind ROAR

The team and technology required to scale ROAR in schools.

(00:31:54) Future of Reading Assessment

Expanding ROAR to include other dimensions of reading development.

(00:33:44) Reading Across Languages

Why English poses more reading difficulties than many languages.

(00:35:34) Listener Q&A

New segment answering audience questions from past episodes.

(00:37:46) Conclusion

Connect With Us:

Episode Transcripts >>> The Future of Everything Website

Connect with Russ >>> Threads / Bluesky / Mastodon

Connect with School of Engineering >>>Twitter/X / Instagram / LinkedIn / Facebook