Louise Spear-Swerling

Louise Spear-Swerling is Professor of Special Education and Reading and Area Coordinator of the Graduate Program in Learning Disabilities at Southern Connecticut State University in New Haven. Before joining the faculty at SCSU, she taught in public schools in Connecticut, in both special-education and general-education settings. She received her B.A. in English from the University of Connecticut in 1976 and her Ph.D. in Cognitive Psychology from Yale University in 1988.

Dr. Spear-Swerling was a member of the Connecticut Early Reading Success Panel and the primary writer of its report, Connecticut’s Blueprint for Reading Achievement (2000). Her research interests include reading acquisition, reading difficulties, and teacher education in reading, and she has published numerous articles and book chapters on these topics. Dr. Spear-Swerling has extensive experience in teacher education and professional development, including supervising a tutoring program that pairs preservice teachers with young at-risk readers in the New Haven Public Schools. She has served as a consultant for a variety of school districts and state education agencies.

Books by this author

Teaching for Thinking

Teaching for Thinking

Robert Sternberg, Louise Spear-Swerling

Articles by this author

About LD

Achieving Good Outcomes in Students with Learning Disabilities

A long line of research in psychology has focused on concepts of risk and resilience. This work studies youngsters who are at risk for a variety of reasons and the factors that seem to enable some at-risk children to do well in the face of adversi

Evaluation / LD Testing

Assessment of Reading Comprehension

Good reading comprehension is the ultimate goal of reading instruction at all grade levels and for all children, including those with learning disabilities.

A female math teacher demonstrating at the chalkboard

Math & Dyscalculia

Components of Effective Mathematics Instruction

Less is known about the components of effective mathematics instruction than about the components of effective reading instruction, because research in math is less extensive than in reading.

Teaching & Instruction

Components of Effective Reading Instruction

There is no single “best” program for teaching reading. However, scientific investigators agree about the need for instruction to address certain key abilities involved in learning to read.

Writing & Spelling

Components of Effective Writing Instruction

Good written expression draws upon a wide array of underlying component abilities. Developing these abilities is a lengthy and challenging process for many children, not only those with learning disabilities.

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