Decoding Dyslexia-MA

What happens inside the brain when a child learns to read?

Dr. Maryanne Wolf — Director of the Center for Dyslexia, Diverse Learners, and Social Justice at UCLA and a member of TDF's Scientific Advisory Board — has spent decades answering that question.

Her work in cognitive neuroscience has produced landmark insights into how the reading brain develops, why some children struggle, and what that means for how we teach. Her research formed the basis for the RAVE-O intervention program for struggling readers, and she co-developed the RAN-RAS test, now one of the best predictors of dyslexia across languages.

She is also the author of Proust and the Squid: The Story and Science of the Reading Brain — one of the most widely read accounts of what the brain does when we read, and what goes wrong in dyslexia.

TDF is proud to count Dr. Wolf among the scientists whose work we help disseminate.

🧠 dyslexiafoundation.org

If your child is struggling to read, waiting to get help is a risk you don't have to take.

Early identification can change the entire course of their learning.

A recent article from USC Dornsife puts it plainly: when dyslexia goes unidentified, children don’t just fall behind academically —they lose their confidence.

Research proves that intervention is twice as effective before 3rd grade. Early support makes all the difference.

Read the full article: https://dornsife.usc.edu/scribe/2026/04/24/beyond-the-wait-to-fail-model/