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The Windward School and Institute Host the 2023 Fall Community Lecture

Psychological Components of Reading Disabilities: Novel Interventions to Address Anxiety and Executive Functioning

Featured speaker: Amy Margolis, PhD
Thursday, October 24
7 p.m. – 8:30 p.m.

This event is live, virtual, and free to attend. Registration is required.

REGISTER HERE



Anxiety and executive function problems are common in youth with reading disabilities. This lecture will explore the ways in which these psychological and neuropsychological factors both influence and are influenced by reading challenges. The neural and behavioral underpinnings of this bidirectional relationship are well documented by science and can inform personalized approaches to reading instruction. Specific interventions will be considered along with the need to prioritize the psychological wellness of children with learning disabilities with greater urgency. 

2023 Featured Speaker: Amy Margolis, PhD

Dr. Amy Margolis is Associate Professor of Medical Psychology at Columbia University Irving Medical Center, and Director of the Environment, Brain, and Behavior Lab, as well as the Columbia Psychology, Psychiatry, and Public Health Collaborative Learning Disability Innovation Hub funded by National Institute of Child Health and Human Development. She holds a doctorate in Applied Educational Psychology: School psychology from Teacher’s College, Columbia University and is trained as a clinical neuropsychologist with two decades of experience assessing and treating children with learning and attention disorders.

Dr. Margolis seeks to use neuroimaging to inform the development of novel therapeutics and early prevention programs for people with learning disabilities. She also studies how exposure to neurotoxic chemicals may affect neurodevelopment and manifest as subsequent learning and social problems. Dr. Margolis is Principal Investigator on a number of federally funded projects that use neuroimaging (magnetic resonance imaging [MRI] and electroencephalography [EEG]) in longitudinal birth cohorts to study the effects of prenatal exposure to neurotoxicants on brain and behavior outcomes. Her lab’s research focuses on identifying neural correlates of environmentally-associated reading and math problems in children living in the context of economic disadvantage. In addition, the lab studies environmentally-associated phenotypes of attention, substance use, and thought problems.


The Windward Institute presents two free educational lectures open to the public in the spring and fall of each year: the Fall Community Lecture and Robert J. Schwartz Memorial Lecture in the spring. Sign up for early access and information about upcoming events here.

Past Fall Community Lectures