ABSTRACT
Seven years ago, a career change brought me from a research laboratory at Boston’s Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center to an independent school for children with learning disabilities (LDs) in Princeton and—via outreach—to public schools throughout New Jersey. I went from being a neuroscientist investigating the brain basis of developmental dyslexia to being executive director of both a school for children with language-based LDs and an education center providing professional development and direct service. It was a professional leap from research to practice that imparted eye-opening lessons about (a) the complex realities behind research-to-practice assumptions, (b) the limitations of existing conceptual models of dyslexia and learning disabilities, and (c) the multifaceted needs and abilities of children with dyslexia.
