January 23, 2026
Dear partners, the Taiwan Academy for Learning Disabilities (TALD) 2026 International Conference will be held on March 7, 2026, at National Kaohsiung Normal University (NKNU). This conference aims to provide a professional exchange platform to promote the exchange of ideas and the sharing of experiences among scholars, clinical professionals, and practitioners. The event includes two keynote speeches and one panel discussion, focusing on the latest research, clinical practice, and educational applications in the field of learning disabilities. It is hoped that through interdisciplinary dialogue, related professional development and policy planning can be further promoted. This symposium will include the following activities: Keynote Speeches: Dr. UNO Akira from the University of Tsukuba, Japan, and Dr. Susan Galletly from Central Queensland University, Australia. Abstract: Dr. UNO Akira - Underlying Cognitive Deficits in Developmental Dyslexia and Developmental Language Disorders in Japanese-Speaking Children This study explores whether the cognitive and language abilities underlying Developmental Dyslexia (DD), including phonological awareness (PA), visual cognition (VC), rapid automatization (AUT), and vocabulary size (VOC), can effectively predict the reading and writing performance of Japanese-speaking children. The study included 1,896 typically developing (TD) Japanese-speaking children and 110 children with developmental dyslexia. Phonological awareness was assessed using meaningless word repetition and reverse repetition tasks; visual recognition was measured using the Rey–Osterrieth Complex Graph Test; rapid automated naming was performed using the Rapid Naming Test (RAN); and vocabulary was assessed using the Abstract Word Standardization Test.
The study results showed that in kana reading among typically developing children, phonological awareness plays a key role in the lower grades, while the importance of rapid automatic naming increases with grade level; in contrast, vocabulary size is the primary predictor of kanji reading across all grades. Children with developmental dyslexia can be further categorized into seven types, including single-deficiency types (16.4% have only phonological awareness deficits, 10% have only visual cognitive deficits, and 8.2% have only rapid automatic naming deficits) and multiple-deficiency types.
In addition, this study also administered the same test to 15 children with Developmental Language Disorder (DLD), who exhibited significantly lower vocabulary abilities. Despite their insufficient semantic comprehension, they maintained good performance in repetitive tasks and reading, suggesting they may share common semantic-level impairments. Finally, this paper compares and discusses the above findings with relevant studies in countries with alphabetic writing systems. Dr. Susan Galletly - Orthography, Cognitive Load, and Literacy Difficulties: Pathways to Optimized Literacy and Learning Supporting children in overcoming language, literacy, and learning difficulties to achieve effective learning is a priority goal of education in all countries. Numerous and interacting factors influence literacy development, potentially having a positive or negative impact on learning. These factors include orthographic factors, organizational factors, teaching and learning complexity factors, perspective factors, and factors specific to the child.
The influence and interaction of these factors vary significantly across different countries, such as differences in the effectiveness and efficiency of early literacy instruction, the age at which reading begins, and the extended effects of these factors. Many important factors and their interactions have not yet been fully studied, thus there is an urgent need to build strategic knowledge, which will be even more powerful and valuable if it can be accumulated both domestically and internationally.
This report will utilize relevant theoretical frameworks to explore the factors influencing literacy, as well as cross-national similarities and differences. These discussions will create powerful learning opportunities to promote improvement. This session emphasizes the application of theory to practice, making it highly relevant for both teachers and scholars.
For children at risk or with learning difficulties, the influencing factors are particularly important, highlighting the urgent need for research. Helpfully, a research call has been issued in this area: "English Reader Learning Disruptions: A Research Call on the Impact of Orthography on Literacy and Learning" (iarld.com).
While countries strive to improve literacy development among disadvantaged children, many nations employing regular orthography have successfully optimized reading and writing learning for over 90% of their children. In contrast, other countries, such as English-speaking nations and many developing countries, still face challenges. Taiwan, South Korea, Japan, and China serve as exemplary models, having achieved significant success in the last century through strategic reforms to early literacy education. These countries adopted a two-stage early literacy curriculum tailored to complex ideographic writing systems, incorporating fully regularized beginner writing systems, such as Taiwan's phonetic alphabet, to rapidly build first-stage literacy skills and serve as a transitional tool.
Through international cooperation, mutual visits and exchanges, and by exploring similarities and differences, we will get closer to optimizing literacy, communication, and learning globally. Encouraging international collaborative research, combining master's, doctoral, and other research projects to collectively accumulate knowledge about key factors in early literacy development and child development will be of great value.
The theme of this panel discussion is "The Intersection of Learning Disabilities and Language Disabilities in the Fourth Edition Definition," which will explore the topic from different perspectives. The panel will be led by a moderator, featuring presentations by three speakers and discussions among the participants. This symposium was chaired by Professor Hung Li-yu, the lead author of the fourth edition of the Taiwanese definition of learning disabilities. Professor Liu Hui-mei, the lead author of the definition of language disabilities, Assistant Professor Chiu Yi-ting, and Ms. Chan Hsiu-ching, a junior high school assessment and counseling teacher from Taipei City, were invited to discuss the relationship between learning disabilities and language disabilities from different perspectives, including definitions, research and clinical experience, assessment, and teaching guidance. They also explored past experiences and anticipated problems and feasible directions following the new definition.
