Increasingly sophisticated behavioral research, imaging technologies that peer inside the brain, and computer models and simulations of mental and physiological activities are enabling researchers to make spectacular advances in the science of the spoken and the written word. Haskins Laboratories is on the forefront of this exciting field, which is deepening our under-standing of humanity and civilization and promises to help people participate more fully in both.

Theoretical and Technical Innovation

Haskins Laboratories has a long history of technological and theoretical innovation, from creating the rules for speech synthesis and the first working prototype of a reading machine for the blind to developing the landmark concept of phonemic awareness as a critical preparation for learning to read. Its record of achievement, past and present, is compelling evidence that it will continue to conduct cutting-edge research in the future.

Independent / Interdisciplinary

Haskins Laboratories enjoys a distinct advantage as an independent research center. Crossing the boundaries of universities as well as disciplines, it has created a critical mass of full-time and visiting psychologists, linguists, physicists, engineers and other specialists who share information and insights and frequently collaborate as they study important problems such as speech synthesis and dyslexia that are too complex for research conducted from a single perspective ever to resolve.

The Integrity of Hard Science

Throughout its history, Haskins Laboratories has been dedicated to fundamental research and innovation, from developing the first interactive software replicating the interplay of the tongue, lips and palate in human speech to using functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging to study blood flow in the brain as a child reads. These objective research approaches, which Haskins scientists pursue wherever they lead, give the work of the Haskins Laboratories special credibility at a time when controversy surrounds many issues concerning language and reading.

Meeting a National Crisis

Nothing illustrates the importance and utility of the Haskins Laboratories' research more dramatically than its national leadership in developing effective, science-based methods of teaching reading and treating reading disabilities. Currently only a third of American eighth-graders read proficiently and as many as 20 percent of all schoolchildren suffer from reading disabilities. Haskins Laboratories is drawing on decades of research and the accumulating scientific evidence to help meet this crisis in American education.

> Haskins Laboratories History