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.
Have a question for Russ? Send it our way in writing or via voice memo, and it might be featured on an upcoming episode. Please introduce yourself, let us know where you're listening from, and share your question. You can send questions to thefutureofeverything@stanford.edu.
Episode Reference Links:
Connect With Us:
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