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.

Listen to the end to hear a question from one of our listeners for Professor Renee Zhao, as well as Professor Zhao's response. 

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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
• Connect with Russ >>> Threads / Bluesky / Mastodon
• Connect with School of Engineering >>> Twitter/X / Instagram / LinkedIn / Facebook

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

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