Updated 3/5/12
VIRGINIA (GINGER) WISE BERNINGER
322 Miller Hall, Box 353600, University of Washington, Seattle, Washington 98195-3600
(206) 543-1846 (secretary) or (206) 616-6372 (voice mail)
INTERNET: FAX: (206) 616-6311
WEB http://depts.washington.edu/coe/programs/ep/profiles/faculty/berninger.html
EDUCATION
Ph.D. Psychology, 1981, The Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, Maryland
M.Ed. Reading and Language, 1970, University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
B.A. Psychology, magna cum laude, 1967, Elizabethtown College, Elizabethtown, Pennsylvania (Member, Woman’s Honor Society)
ACADEMIC APPOINTMENTS
University of Washington, Educational Psychology, Assistant Professor,
Associate Professor (1989), Full Professor (1993), Member of the Graduate Faculty
(1986 to present); Program Coordinator, APA accredited and NASP approved
School Psychology Program, 1993-2000; Director of Internship Training, School
Psychology Program, 2001-06; Learning Sciences , 2007-present (renamed Learning
Sciences and Human Development, 2011; Director, University Brain Education
Technology Center (UBET) Education Site 2009-
1994- Research Affiliate (1994-present) and Coordinator Research Area on Learning
Disabilities (2000-present), Eunice Kennedy Shriver Intellectual and Developmental
Disabilities Research Center (IDDRC), University of Washington.
2011- Member, Neurodevelopmental Disorders Research Consortium (NDRC), Seattle
1995-2006 Director, Eunice Kennedy Shriver NICHD-funded University of Washington Multidisciplinary Learning Disabilities Center
1989-2008 Director, Eunice Kennedy Shriver NICHD-funded University of Washington Literacy Trek developmental and instructional studies (focus writing
and related skills)
1989-2000 Member, Center for Study of Capable Youth, University of Washington.
1983-86 Assistant Professor, Department of Rehabilitation Medicine, Tufts University School of Medicine, Boston, Massachusetts.
1985 Assistant Professor of Psychology (part-time), Wellesley College, Wellesley, Massachusetts.
1981-83 Instructor in Psychology, Department of Psychiatry, Harvard Medical School, Boston, Massachusetts.
LICENSURE AND HOSPITAL APPOINTMENTS
1987- Psychologist, State of Washington, No. 1161.
1982-90 Psychologist, Commonwealth of Massachusetts, No. 3035.
1983-86 Member of Special and Scientific Staff, New England Medical Center, Boston,
Massachusetts.
1980-83 Research Associate, Children's Hospital, Boston, Massachusetts. Judge
Baker predoctoral internship program, 1980-81; postdoctoral clinical
Training, Developmental Evaluation Clinic (a University Affiliated Program),
1982-83.
PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE
1986- Teaching, research, clinical and research supervisory, and service activities, College of Education, University of Washington.
1983-86 Research activities, Tufts-New England Medical Center, Boston.
1982-86 Part-time private practice in applied developmental psychology.
1985 Taught research methods in experimental psychology, Wellesley College.
1984-85 Principal Psychologist, Eunice Kennedy Shriver Center, Waltham, Massachusetts (a University affiliated program for developmental disabilities); half time.
1982-83 Research activities in Psychiatry (Professor Peter Wolff's laboratory) and clinical activities in Developmental Evaluation Clinic (a University Affiliated Program for developmental disabilities), Children's Hospital, Boston.
1980-82 Teaching, administrative, clinical, and research responsibilities in Ambulatory Pediatrics (Dr. Melvin Levine, Chair), Children's Hospital, Boston.
1982-83 Postdoctoral clinical training in psychology. Supervised by Richard Schnell, Ph.D., Andrea Farkas Patenaude, Ph.D., Patricia Boyle, Ph.D., and Eugene D’ Angelo, Ph.D., and others, Boston’s Children’s Hospital.
1980-81 Predoctoral clinical training in psychology. Supervised by Richard Schnell, Ph.D. and others, Boston’s Children’s Hospital. Alumnus of the Judge Baker Children’s Center Psychology Intern Program.
1980 Research Assistant, study on gifted, learning-disabled children, Johns Hopkins.
1977-80 Ph.D. candidate, The Johns Hopkins University; Research Assistant to Professors Catherine Garvey and Clinton De Soto.
1976-77 Research Assistant, part-time, to Professor Howard Egeth, Johns Hopkins.
1967-76 Educator (classroom teacher, Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, Baldwin-Whitehall public schools; learning disabilities resource teacher, Frederick, MD, public schools; reading specialist, Baltimore, MD public schools).
Recognition for Professional Activities
Fellow, American Psychological Association, 1995-
Fellow, Society for the Scientific Study of School Psychology, 1994-
Sylvia O. Richardson Hall of Honor, The International Dyslexia Association Promoting Literacy through Research, Education, and Advocacy, by the Washington State Branch of IDA, June 10, 2006.
2009 Leadership in Literacy Award, Washington Branch of the International Dyslexia Association.
According to Pierre Azoulay and Joshua Graff Zivin who head a team of health economists at Columbia University currently doing research on the careers of Top NIH grantees, NIH records place me above the 95th percentile of the distribution of (extramural) NIH grants over the last 25 years (along with 2,500 others).
Identified as one of top 25 educational psychology researchers in productivity 1991-2002. Hsieh et al. in Contemporary Educational Psychology 31 (2006) 123-124.
Identified by Robinson et al. one of the top 12 learning disabilities researchers in productivity 1995-2004.
Consultation on Currently Funded Grants:
Consultant on Grant "Development, automatization and self-regulation of cognitive processes in writing" awarded to Rui Alexandre Alves by Portugal National Science Foundation; budgeting will probably begin 2011. The goal of the intervention studies is to develop a Portuguese instruction writing program targeting translation, and check if it augments written language bursts. Plans to visit during 2011.
Grant Awards 1984-to Present:
Principal Investigator, Defining and Treating Specific Written Language Learning Disabilities. NIH P50 Center for Multidisciplinary Learning Disabilities Research. December 15, 2011 to November 30, 2016. $8,092,341. Also Principal Investigator, Project 1, Defining Learning Disabilities by Profiles and RTI, Administrative Core A, and Service Core B.
Co-Principal Investigator (Principal Investigator Zvia Breznitz, University of Haifa), United States-Israel Binational Science Foundation Award, 2010-2012: Word-, sentence-, and passage-reading fluency training in grade 4 and reading and writing fluency training in grade 5: Comparing Hebrew- and English- speaking dyslexics. $100, 718.
Principal Investigator, Learning Disabilities Center: Link to Schools and Biology. Funded, National Institute of Child Health and Human Development, 12/1/00 to 11/30/05 with one year of no cost extension to 11/30/06, total $8,048,316; 12/1/95 to 11/30/2000, $3,559,210 (direct costs reported + an additional approximately 50% indirect costs awarded). Administrative Supplement, $30,000, awarded 1994-1995.
Investigator, Genetic contributions to component phenotypes of dyslexia (P.I. Wendy Raskind, M.D., Ph.D). Funded, National Institute of Child Health and Human Development, $1,047,972 09/01/07- 12/10/09.
Principal Investigator, Interventions for component writing disabilities. Funded, National Institute of Child Health and Human Development, 2001-2006, with two years of no cost extension to 6/30/08. $3,200,911; 1995-2000, $1,331, 250.
Principal Investigator, Interventions for component writing disabilities. Shannon Award, 1992-1994, National Institute of Health, $100,000.
Principal Investigator, Component processes in writing disabilities. Funded, National Institute of Child Health and Human Development, 1989-1992. $84,935 (direct costs).
Co-Principal Investigator (with Nancy Robinson, P.I.). Identifying and nurturing early mathematical talent. 1993-1996, Department of Education. (Javits Gifted and Talented Students Education Grant Program), $724,146.
Principal Investigator, Early intervention to prevent reading disabilities in urban, minority children. Funded, 1989-1990, Institute for Ethnic Studies in the United States. $11,776.
Principal Investigator, Microcomputer-assisted diagnosis of writing disabilities. Funded, 1987-1988, University of Washington Graduate School Research Fund. $9,249.
Educational Psychology Representative. A preservice interdisciplinary model: Birth to five-year-old hearing-impaired children and their families (Principal investigator, Marie Thompson). Funded, U.S. Department of Education, 1987-1990, and 1990-1992.
Investigator (Butterfield & McCutchen, Co-Principal Investigators). Writing processes and their development, 1989-1993. $457,927 (direct costs).
Principal Investigator, Validation of a Modification of the Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale-Revised (WAIS-R) for Use with Adults with Severe Musculoskeletal Disorders (Project in Center Grant awarded by NIHR to Bruce M. Gans, M.D.), 1984-86.
NIMH predoctoral training fellowship, 1978-1980.
Listings (Selected) in
Who's Who in Frontier Science and Technology, 1st edition, 1984, 1985, renamed Who’s Who in Science and Engineering, 1993, 2nd, 3rd,,4th, 9th, 10th editions (2006-2008). Who’s Who in America, 2000, 2001, 2005, 2006. Who’s Who in Education, 2005, Who’s Who in American Women, 2006, 2007, 2008-2009, 2010-2011, Who’s Who in Medicine and Healthcare, 6th edition, 2006-2007, Who’s Who in the World, 2006, 2007.
AREAS OF TEACHING/RESEARCH/CONSULTATION/CLINICAL SPECIALIZATION
Normal oral language, reading, writing, and math development
Learning disabilities in reading, writing, oral language, and math
What are the different kinds of cognitive representations and operations and how are they represented in the brain/mind? How are they accessed or generated in unconsciousness or implicit memory and brought into consciousness in working memory? What are ideas? How are they planned, generated, or constructed? How are they translated into language-based and non-language based
thinking? What is the role of working memory in language learning and math learning?
Use of technology in instruction and assessment
Developing leaders in assessment-instructional links in reading, writing, and math
Gifted (e.g., exceptional talent including but not restricted to intellectual capability; and gifted children
with learning disabilities—twice exceptional)
Developmental disabilities (e.g., mental retardation, cerebral palsy, spinal cord injury, etc.), neurogenetic disorders, and brain injuries or seizures.
CURRENT RESEARCH AND PROFESSIONAL INTERESTS (selected)
1. In Typical Writing Development, Idea Generation and Translation of Cognitive Representations into Levels of Language; Comparison of Written Expression by Pen and by Keyboard; Global and Local Translation Strategies in Writing Narrative and Expository Genre; Interrelationships of Writing, Reading, Listening, and Speaking.
2. Linking diagnostic assessment and instructional treatment at three tiers (prevention, problem-solving consultation, and differential diagnosis and treatment planning and implementation) across continuum from low achieving, at-risk students for a variety of reasons to students with biologically based specific learning disabilities in reading, writing, and math. Planning instructional treatments based on assessment, using multi-modal assessment to monitor progress in response to instruction; and problem-solving instructional modifications when warranted.
3. Interactions of individual learner differences (biological and culture), teaching, and curriculum (developmental stepping stones) and instructional tools in the Learning Triangle and their application to assessment, and instruction for Reading, Writing, and Math.
4. Cross-disciplinary interdisciplinary frameworks for evidence-based diagnosis of developmental and learning disorders.
5. Posted on website for Learning Sciences Program:
summative and formative longitudinal assessment of writing grades 1 to 7;
multicultural math, multicultural literacy,
idea expression via written language and other modes and mechanisms (e.g., art, dance,
and music),
learning and developmental differences and processes in learning reading, writing, and
math,
how the mind is constructed through interactions with the social and physical worlds, and
other topics related to brain, education, and technology
SCHOLARSHIP: PUBLICATIONS
REFEREED JOURNAL ARTICLES
Bahr, R., Silliman, E., Dow, M., & Berninger, V. (in press). Linguistic pattern analysis of misspellings of typically developing writers in grades 1 to 9. Journal Speech, Language, and Hearing Research.
Silliman, E., & Berninger, V. (2011). Cross-disciplinary dialogue about the nature of oral and written language problems in the context of developmental, academic, and phenotypic profiles. Topics in Language Disorders, 31, 6-23.
Berninger, V., Lee, Y., Abbott, R. & Breznitz, Z. (2011). Teaching children with dyslexia to spell in reading-writers’ workshop. Annals of Dyslexia. DOI: 10.1007/s11881-011-0054-0
Rubenstein, K., Matsushita, M., Berninger, V., Raskind, W., & Wijsman, E. (2011). Genome scan for spelling deficits: Effects of verbal IQ on models of transmission and trait gene localization. Behavioral Genetics. An International Journal Devoted to the Inheritance of Behavior, 41, 31-42. http://www.springerlink.com/content/l3017v24656mqr32/
Peter, B., Raskind, W., Matsushita, M., Lisowski, M., Vu, T., Berninger, V., Wijsman, E., & Brkanac, Z. (2011). Replication of CNTNAP2 association with nonword repetition and support for FOXP2 association with timed reading and motor activities in a dyslexia family sample. Journal of Neurodevelopmental Disorders, 3, 39-49.
Richards, T., Berninger, V., Stock, P., Altemeier, L., Trivedi, P., & Maravilla, K. (2011). Differences between good and poor child writers on fMRI contrasts for writing newly taught and highly practiced letter forms. Reading and Writing, 24(5), 493-516.
Brooks, A., Berninger, V., Abbott, R., & Richards, T. (2011) Letter naming and letter writing reversals of some children with dyslexia: Symptoms of inefficient phonological and orthographic loops of working memory? Developmental Neuropsychology, 36, 847-868.
Graham, S., Berninger, V., & Abbott, R. (2011). Are attitudes toward writing and reading separable constructs? A study with primary grade children. Reading and Writing Quarterly.
Berninger, V., Nagy, W., & Beers, S. (2011) Child writers’ construction and reconstruction of single sentences and construction of multi-sentence texts: Contributions of syntax and transcription to translation. Reading and Writing. An Interdisciplinary Journal, 102, 151-182. DOI 10.1007/s11145-010-9262-y
Berninger, V., & Richards, T. (2010). Inter-relationships among behavioral markers, genes, brain, and treatment in dyslexia and dysgraphia. Future Neurology, 5, 597-617.
(doi: 10.2217/fnl.10.22)
Berninger, V., & Abbott, D. (2010). Listening comprehension, oral expression, reading comprehension and written expression: Related yet unique language systems in grades 1, 3, 5, and 7. Journal of Educational Psychology, 102, 635–651.
Berninger, V., & O’Malley May, M. (2011). Evidence-based diagnosis and treatment for specific learning disabilities involving impairments in written and/or oral language. Journal of Learning Disabilities, 44, 167-183.
Abbott, R., Berninger, V., & Fayol, M. (2010). Longitudinal relationships of levels of language in writing and between writing and reading in grades 1 to 7. Journal of Educational Psychology, 102, 281-298.
Berninger, V., Abbott, R., Swanson, H. L., Lovitt, D., Trivedi, P., Lin, S., Gould, L., Youngstrom, M., Shimada, S., and Amtmann, D. (2010). Relationship of word- and sentence-level working memory to reading and writing in second, fourth, and sixth grade. Language, Speech, and Hearing Services in Schools, 41,179-193.
Berninger, V., Abbott, R., Trivedi, P., Olson, E., Gould, L., Hiramatsu, S., Holsinger, M., McShane, M., Murphy, H., Norton, J., Scuilli Boyd, A., & York Westhaggen, S. (2010). Applying the multiple dimensions of reading fluency to assessment and instruction. Journal of Psychoeducational Assessment, 28, 3-18. © 2009 Sage Publications 10.1177/0734282909336083 http://jpa.sagepub.com hosted at http://online.sagepub.com
Berninger, V., Abbott, R., Nagy, W., & Carlisle, J. (2010). Growth in phonological, orthographic, and morphological awareness in grades 1 to 6. Journal of Psycholinguistic Research, 39, 141-163. available on SpringerLink http://www.springerlink.com/openurl.asp?genre=article&id=doi:10.1007/s10936-009-9130-6
Garcia, N., Abbott, R., & Berninger, V. (2010). Predicting poor, average, and superior spellers in grades 1 to 6 from phonological, orthographic, and morphological, spelling, or reading composites. Written Language and Literacy, 13, 61-99.
Berninger, V., Abbott, R., Augsburger, A., & Garcia, N. (2009). Comparison of pen and keyboard transcription modes in children with and without learning disabilities affecting transcription. Learning Disability Quarterly, 32, 123-141.