Press notes: From theory to practice: IWORDD connects science and education in its last day

• The conference organized by BCBL will conclude with a translational session where international experts will present reading development tools and solutions tested in the United States, France, and Wales.

Recent evidence, such as the results of the PISA 2026 report published by the OECD, highlights a widespread decline in reading performance, underscoring the need for a coordinated system-wide approach to detect reading difficulties and improve literacy. At the same time, traditional reading assessment methods present a bottleneck for educators and researchers because they require lengthy training, specialized preparation, and a significant amount of resources.

This context presents major challenges for language science and education. An example of how to address them will be featured on the final day of the international conference IWORDD (International Workshop on Reading and Developmental Dyslexia), organized by the Basque Center on Cognition Brain and Language (BCBL). The day will feature a series of presentations on reading development tools and solutions tested and applied in classrooms across the Basque Country and in countries such as the United States, France, and Wales.

Linking field evidence, neuroscientific theory, and open educational resources, the translational session “From Theory To Practice”, scheduled for October 9 at the Miramar Palace in Donostia-San Sebastián, will illustrate how research can drive practical changes in literacy support and improvement. It will also foster knowledge transfer and interaction between the research community, families, teachers, clinical professionals, and associations. All sessions will feature simultaneous translation into Spanish, English, and Basque.

The day will open with a presentation by Harvard University Professor Nadine Gaab, who will explain how and why reading difficulties, including dyslexia, should be detected early, outlining the neurobiological foundations supporting early screening. It will also include practical recommendations for implementing screening protocols in various settings and selecting the most appropriate tool for each case.

Jason Yeatman, Associate Professor at Stanford University, will present ROAR, a research tool that has evolved into an educational assessment platform currently adopted by schools across 29 U.S. states and approved as a universal dyslexia screening tool in California and Ohio. Next, Sendy Caffarra, from the Department of Biomedical, Metabolic and Neural Sciences at the University of Modena and Reggio Emilia, will share the results and conclusions from adapting ROAR into Italian.

Bangor University Professor Manon Jones will speak about CAL:ON Cymru, a bilingual national literacy initiative in Wales developed in response to concerns over reading and language performance among children and youth in the country. Her talk will be followed by two presentations on detecting and assessing reading difficulties in other bilingual contexts: Catalan, presented by Anna López-Sala and Catherine Clark, researchers from the Learning Disabilities Unit at Sant Joan de Déu Hospital; and Basque, presented by BCBL experts.

In the afternoon, Cassandra Potier Watkins, researcher at the French National Institute of Health and Medical Research (INSERM), will present Kalulu, an open-access evidence-based reading instruction program developed by the Excello Lab and the Collège de France. She will share results from field trials conducted in France, Brazil, and Colombia, demonstrating how to transform the way each child is supported in their reading development.

To conclude, Michelle Luciano, Professor at the University of Edinburgh, will explain in an accessible manner how genes influence individual differences in reading performance, debunking the myth of genetic determinism: complex traits like reading are influenced by many small-effect genes working together with the environment. She will also analyze the educational implications of genetic research on dyslexia and amplify the perspectives of individuals with lived experience of dyslexia.

Registration to attend the closing day of IWORDD will remain open at this link until October 6.