Jan Frijters
Associate Professor
Department of Child and Youth Studies
Brock University
Canada
Biography
Dr. Frijters is an Applied Developmental Psychologist with a focus on learning difficulties, motivation, and intervention. He also has a passion for quantitative research methods, especially for techniques such as multilevel modeling, person-centred, and structural equation modeling approaches that can help sort out how developmental processes unfold over time and within specific learning contexts. Several large collaborative projects are underway with collaborators in Beijing and Xi’an China, the University of Stavanger in Norway, Yale University and Georgia State University in the US. These ongoing studies focus on the most severely challenged children, adolescents and adults: providing and evaluating intervention, examining the genetic and brain basis for reading difficulties, and examining how neuropsychological characteristics interact with these factors. There are numerous and rich opportunities for students at every level within his ongoing projects.
Research Interest
The relationship between motivation and reading development or disruptions; Instructional features and optimal response to intervention; Research methods and quantitative models in developmental research; Human growth curve and latent growth modeling of developmental function; The genetics and neurobiological aspects of learning difficulties
Publications
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Morris, R. D., Lovett, M. W., Wolf, M. Sevcik, R. A., Steinbach, K. A., Frijters, J. C., & Shapiro, M. (2012). Multiple-Component Remediation for Developmental Reading Disabilities: IQ, SES, and Race as Factors on Remedial Outcome. Journal of Learning Disabilities, 45(2), 99-127.
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Cho, K., Frijters, J. C., Zhang, H., Miller, L. L., & Gruen, J. R. (2013). Prenatal exposure to nicotine and impaired reading performance. Journal of Pediatrics, 162(4), 713-718.
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Greenberg, D., Wise, J., & Frijters, J. C. (2013). Persisters and nonpersisters: Identifying who stays and who leaves from adult literacy interventions. Reading and Writing: An Interdisciplinary Journal, 26(4), 495-514.
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Frijters, J. C., Lovett, M. W., Sevcik, R. A., & Morris, R. (2013). Four methods of identifying responders to a multiple component reading intervention for struggling middle school readers. Reading and Writing: An Interdisciplinary Journal, 26(4), 539-563.
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Davis, A., Polanowski, J., & Frijters, J. C. (2014). William’s syndrome. In D. M. Griffiths, R., Condillac, B. Finucane, and M. Legree (Eds.). Syndromes and Applied Behaviour Analysis. (pp. 169-196). UK: Jessica Kingsley Publishing.
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Feinberg, I., Frijters, J. C., Lawrence-Johnson, V., Greenberg, D., Nightingale, E., & Moodie, C. (2016). Examining associations between health information seeking behavior and adult education status in the U.S.: An analysis of the 2012 PIAAC data. PLOS One.
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Jacobson, L. A., Koriakin, T., Lipkin, P., Boada, R., Frijters, J. C., Lovett, M. W., Hill, D., Willcutt, E., Gottwald, S., Wolf, M., Bosson-Heenan, J., Gruen, J. G., & Mahone, E. M. (In press). Executive functions contribute uniquely to reading competence in minority youth. Journal of Learning Disabilities
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Tannock, R., Frijters, J. C., Martinussen, R., White, E., Ickowitz, A., Benson, N. J., & Lovett, M. W. (In press). Combined modality intervention for ADHD with comorbid reading disorders: A proof of concept study. Journal of Learning Disabilities.
