The Literacy and Deafness Development Research Lab
the ladder lab
About The Ladder Lab
Welcome to the Ladder Lab website! The Literacy and Deafness Development Research Lab (LADDER Lab) is made up of a group of researchers based at the Deafness, Cognition and Language Research Centre (DCAL) at UCL and City, University of London. We are interested in understanding how literacy and language skills are acquired, and investigating the underlying cognitive processes involved in literacy development.
Our studies work with a range of children, including typically-developing children, deaf children, and children with dyslexia and struggling readers.
We conduct internationally–renowned research into deaf and hearing children’s language and reading development and difficulties. Some hearing children and many deaf children have language delays and find reading challenging. It is important to understand how, and when, the language and reading processes can break down in order to devise effective interventions to remediate difficulties. As part of this work to identify difficulties, we have developed a range of assessments to measure language skills. We work with practitioners and other key stakeholders.
Our Research
We have several exiting projects looking at language skills and reading development in children. Follow the links below to find out more.
The Ladder Lab 