Sally E. Shaywitz | |
---|---|
![]() Shaywitz in 2016 | |
Born | 1942 (age 81–82) |
Alma mater |
City University of New York Albert Einstein College of Medicine |
Scientific career | |
Institutions | Yale University |
Sally Shaywitz (born 1942) is an American physician-scientist who is the Audrey G. Ratner Professor in Learning Development at Yale University. She is the co-founder and co-director of the Yale Center for Dyslexia & Creativity. [1] Her research provides the framework for modern understanding of dyslexia.
Shaywitz was born and raised in The Bronx. [2] She is the daughter of two Eastern European immigrants. [2] Her father was a dressmaker and her mother a homemaker. [2] She earned her undergraduate degree at City College of New York, and originally considered a career in law. [3] She was accepted early to the Albert Einstein College of Medicine. [3] That year her mother was diagnosed with endometrial cancer, and died just before Shaywitz started her medical studies. [2] When Shaywitz joined medical school, she was one of four women in a class of one hundred students. [2] Shaywitz completed her residency in pediatrics and developmental pediatrics. [2] Alongside completing her training, Shaywitz had three children, whom she raised in Westport, Connecticut. [4]
Shaywitz started her medical career seeing patients out of her home in suburban Connecticut. [2] She was eventually recruited by Yale University to look after patients with learning disorders, including dyslexia. [2] In 1979 she was recruited by Yale University to see patients with learning disorders, including dyslexia. [5] Her research involves longitudinal epidemiological and neurobiological studies. In 1983 she started tracking a random cohort of children continuously from kindergarten to their current age in their 40s. [1] The longitudinal study data also showed that the achievement gap in reading between typical and dyslexic students occurs early – in first grade and persists. This finding impelled her to develop an evidence-based efficient screener to identify at risk beginning in kindergarten. [1]
In 1983 she started tracking a cohort of people from kindergarten to adulthood, a study which became known as The Connecticut Longitudinal Study. [6] She showed that boys and girls were equally as likely to be affected by dyslexia. [7] These studies allowed Shaywitz to identify a neural signature of dyslexia, as well as demonstrating that dyslexia is not simply a reading disorder young people 'outgrow'. [6] According to Shaywitz, dyslexia arises due to inefficient function in the neural systems responsible for skilled reading. [7] Shaywitz developed the "Sea of Strengths" model, which explains that dyslexia is a deficit in language processing. [2] Her research identified that there is no connection between dyslexia and intelligence so that you can be very smart and still read very slowly. [7]
In 2003 Shaywitz published Overcoming Dyslexia, a book which helps people identify, understand and overcome challenges in reading. [8] In 2020 she, together with her son, psychiatrist, Jonathan Shaywitz, published the much updated Overcoming Dyslexia 2nd edition. [9]
As of 2018, the definition of dyslexia as unexpected is codified in U.S. federal law (U.S. Public Law 115-391): The term “dyslexia” means an unexpected difficulty in reading for an individual who has the intelligence to be a much better reader, most commonly caused by a difficulty in the phonological processing (the appreciation of the individual sounds of spoken language), which affects the ability of an individual to speak, read, and spell. [19]
Shaywitz is married to Bennett Shaywitz, a pediatric neurologist who headed that section at Yale from 1976 to 2015 and with whom she co-founded the Yale Center for Dyslexia & Creativity. [3] [20] They met and were married in 1963. [7]
Sally E. Shaywitz | |
---|---|
![]() Shaywitz in 2016 | |
Born | 1942 (age 81–82) |
Alma mater |
City University of New York Albert Einstein College of Medicine |
Scientific career | |
Institutions | Yale University |
Sally Shaywitz (born 1942) is an American physician-scientist who is the Audrey G. Ratner Professor in Learning Development at Yale University. She is the co-founder and co-director of the Yale Center for Dyslexia & Creativity. [1] Her research provides the framework for modern understanding of dyslexia.
Shaywitz was born and raised in The Bronx. [2] She is the daughter of two Eastern European immigrants. [2] Her father was a dressmaker and her mother a homemaker. [2] She earned her undergraduate degree at City College of New York, and originally considered a career in law. [3] She was accepted early to the Albert Einstein College of Medicine. [3] That year her mother was diagnosed with endometrial cancer, and died just before Shaywitz started her medical studies. [2] When Shaywitz joined medical school, she was one of four women in a class of one hundred students. [2] Shaywitz completed her residency in pediatrics and developmental pediatrics. [2] Alongside completing her training, Shaywitz had three children, whom she raised in Westport, Connecticut. [4]
Shaywitz started her medical career seeing patients out of her home in suburban Connecticut. [2] She was eventually recruited by Yale University to look after patients with learning disorders, including dyslexia. [2] In 1979 she was recruited by Yale University to see patients with learning disorders, including dyslexia. [5] Her research involves longitudinal epidemiological and neurobiological studies. In 1983 she started tracking a random cohort of children continuously from kindergarten to their current age in their 40s. [1] The longitudinal study data also showed that the achievement gap in reading between typical and dyslexic students occurs early – in first grade and persists. This finding impelled her to develop an evidence-based efficient screener to identify at risk beginning in kindergarten. [1]
In 1983 she started tracking a cohort of people from kindergarten to adulthood, a study which became known as The Connecticut Longitudinal Study. [6] She showed that boys and girls were equally as likely to be affected by dyslexia. [7] These studies allowed Shaywitz to identify a neural signature of dyslexia, as well as demonstrating that dyslexia is not simply a reading disorder young people 'outgrow'. [6] According to Shaywitz, dyslexia arises due to inefficient function in the neural systems responsible for skilled reading. [7] Shaywitz developed the "Sea of Strengths" model, which explains that dyslexia is a deficit in language processing. [2] Her research identified that there is no connection between dyslexia and intelligence so that you can be very smart and still read very slowly. [7]
In 2003 Shaywitz published Overcoming Dyslexia, a book which helps people identify, understand and overcome challenges in reading. [8] In 2020 she, together with her son, psychiatrist, Jonathan Shaywitz, published the much updated Overcoming Dyslexia 2nd edition. [9]
As of 2018, the definition of dyslexia as unexpected is codified in U.S. federal law (U.S. Public Law 115-391): The term “dyslexia” means an unexpected difficulty in reading for an individual who has the intelligence to be a much better reader, most commonly caused by a difficulty in the phonological processing (the appreciation of the individual sounds of spoken language), which affects the ability of an individual to speak, read, and spell. [19]
Shaywitz is married to Bennett Shaywitz, a pediatric neurologist who headed that section at Yale from 1976 to 2015 and with whom she co-founded the Yale Center for Dyslexia & Creativity. [3] [20] They met and were married in 1963. [7]