Saskia Kohnen

Biography

I have a degree in Patholinguistics (Linguistics and Speech-Language Pathology) from Potsdam University (Germany). I completed a PhD with Professor Lyndsey Nickels and Professor Max Coltheart at Macquarie University in 2008. My PhD focussed on cognitive neuropsychological approaches to rehabilitation of spelling disorders in childhood. After finishing my PhD, I worked with MultiLit (Emeritus Professor Kevin Wheldall, Dr Robyn Beaman, Dr Alison Madelaine) in a remote Aboriginal school in Cape York on the implementation of a school-wide remedial reading program. When I returned, I started to collaborate with A/Professor Genevieve McArthur and Professor Anne Castles on large NHMRC- and ARC-funded randomised control trials of different reading trainings in children with developmental dyslexia. From 2011-2013 I led an investigation of how to improve spelling remediation by promoting generalisation (ARC Discovery Project and Macquarie University Research Fellowship). I am currently Clinical Director of the MQ Cognition Clinic for Reading.

Research Interest

My research consists of three streams: (1) assessing the underlying causes of reading and spelling difficulties in children, (2) conducting intervention trials for children and adults with developmental and acquired reading and spelling difficulties, and (3) investigating reading acquisition in typically developing children.