# Tracking neurocognitive changes during evidence-based reading instruction in typically and atypically developing children

> **NIH NIH R37** · UNIVERSITY OF CONNECTICUT STORRS · 2024 · $64,384

## Abstract

Project Summary
Research goals for the R37 extension (Year 6-10): We maintain the overarching goal of
understanding variation in response to reading remediation in reading disabled (RD) learners
with dynamic brain/behavior tracking designed to yield novel insights into how remediation
modifies brain organization for reading, and why it fails to do so adequately for some RD children.
In the proposed continuation, we leverage major discoveries from the initial phase on reliable
cognitive and neurobiological predictors of differential responsiveness to conventional in-school
treatments (the how and why) to next examine what might constitute a more effective code
training and neurocognitive focus for these low-responders.
The obvious next steps are: 1) to understand the neurocognitive reasons why children exhibit this
component processing variability by systematically examining basic processing capacities for
each component dimension, at both the cognitive and neural levels of analysis. (Aim 2A); 2) to
follow this with targeted adaptive learning experiments (2-3 days) focused on how profiles
(measured in Aim 2A) predict neurocognitive responses to focused code learning experiments
(Aim 2B); and finally, 3) to build upon key neurocognitive insights from both Aims 2A and 2B and
transition to examining realistic short-term treatment opportunities (14 weeks; Aim 2C). These
extended “proto-treatment“ studies will employ Education Technology to deliver varied content
that differentially places the training focus on O, P, or S component processing dimensions at
different points during training, and with neurocognitive predictors and concurrent imaging
during this extended treatment develop and test brain-based models of learner by content
interactions. (The use of Education Technology is encouraged by its successful employment in
the current grant cycle and in two other federally funded projects that our team is conducting.)
We will build upon our progress with both pre-treatment brain imaging (with fMRI/MRS) and
frequent sampling of dynamic brain/behavior changes (with integrated fNIRS/EEG tracking)
during learning opportunities at different timescales to further our understanding of the
dynamics of brain/behavior dependencies in code learning and how treatment modulates these
inter-related levels of analysis. We will recruit waves of TD and RD cohorts (total N = 180; ages 7-
8) to participate in all Aim 2 studies.

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 11090036
- **Project number:** 3R37HD090153-08S1
- **Recipient organization:** UNIVERSITY OF CONNECTICUT STORRS
- **Principal Investigator:** Kenneth R. Pugh
- **Activity code:** R37 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2024
- **Award amount:** $64,384
- **Award type:** 3
- **Project period:** 2022-09-06 → 2025-08-31

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/11090036

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 11090036, Tracking neurocognitive changes during evidence-based reading instruction in typically and atypically developing children (3R37HD090153-08S1). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-26 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/11090036. Licensed CC0.

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