RESEARCH NEWS
New clinic helps people read all about it
The Cognition Clinic for Reading is now open to the public, at the Australian Hearing Hub.
“Our clinic’s aim is to help people with a range of reading and spelling difficulties, and their supporters,” said Genevieve McArthur.
“We help people directly by providing comprehensive assessments and evidence-based advice about treatments. At the same time, we know we can’t help everybody so we are running professional development workshops for teachers, clinicians, volunteers – we’ve had a few grandparents who are hoping to help their grandchildren, for example.”
The clinic emerged from research within the Department of Cognitive Science and the ARC Centre for Cognition and its Disorders, and a need to think outside the box for research funding.
Research into reading difficulties typically falls in a grey area between traditional ARC and NHMRC funding categories, so Genevieve’s team proposed a model whereby their next generation studies could be supported by a not-for-profit public clinic.
“We have a circular relationship with research projects and the clinic – we will help researchers recruit and manage their participants, and in return, if those projects work we will integrate the findings of those projects into our practice. It’s a really immediate feedback loop.”
“Eventually, when people contact us and we give them an assessment, we’ll be able to say: here are your evidence based treatment options, however you might want to pursue a new research trial instead. We can’t guarantee it’s going to work, but it’s free!”
Find out more about the Cognition Clinic for Reading.