Science informing policy: The National Institute of Child Health and Human Development's contribution to reading.

Abstract

As pediatricians who have devoted our entire professional lives to the care of children and young adults with reading difficulties, we must respond to the misinformed commentary by Strauss1 that appeared in the January 2002 issue. It is difficult to understand how in the year 2002 and in the prestigious journal Pediatrics someone can argue against criteria for scientific research that are the universal “gold standard.” And yet, taking a giant step backwards, Strauss argues against the scientific method and against accountability in education. Specifically, Strauss criticizes the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD) research for insisting that treatment efficacy for reading instruction be based on “experimental, not descriptive” studies. His antipathy toward experimental research is based on the “fact that the latter [descriptive] methodology is widely accepted in reading research …” Here, Strauss is partially correct; until quite recently, research in reading instruction was often descriptive. This was unfortunate because an experimental or quasi-experimental design is the only type of research design that can specifically address the question of cause and effect, that is, which reading program is most effective in teaching children to read. The descriptive methodology that Strauss advocates is not appropriate to address the question of causality and thus lacks the quality of trustworthiness that modern science and medicine demand. Within the past decade there has been an extraordinary change; largely through the vision and persistence of the NICHD and particularly, Reid Lyon, research in reading is now held to the same rigorous standard expected of research affecting other important disorders of children. Reading research, including but not limited to that conducted by NICHD-funded investigators, has recently been thoroughly and rigorously reviewed by 2 national bodies. The first is the Committee on the Prevention of Reading Difficulties in Young Children, sponsored by … Address correspondence to Sally E. Shaywitz, MD Department of Pediatrics, Yale University School of Medicine, 333 Cedar St, New Haven, CT 06510-8064. E-mail: sally.shaywitz{at}yale.edu