A bit about Kate Cain
As an undergraduate, I studied Experimental Psychology at the University of Sussex and stayed on to complete my DPhil on the language and cognitive bases of reading comprehension difficulties in school-aged children. My work continues on that broad theme and current projects include: (a) longitudinal studies tracking pre-schoolers through to adolescence to understand the language bases of reading comprehension, (b) the role of technology in language and literacy development, and (c) the development and implementation of interventions to support preschool language skills and school-aged literacy. Much of this work is conducted overseas and involves both monolinguals and speakers of two or more languages.
My Role in LuCiD
I lead a work package ‘Language 0-7: The transition to literacy’ in which we are following the children who took part in the LuCiD 1 Language 0-5 project as they enter school and transition into formal literacy instruction. We seek to understand how preschool language and cognitive development relates to a child’s progress in early literacy. We will use this information to help healthcare and education professionals design more effective interventions for children at risk of reading problems and curricula to support literacy.
LuCiD publications (3) by Kate Cain
Monaghan, P., Jago, L.S., Speyer, L., Turnbull, H., Alcock, K.J., Rowland, C.F., & Cain, K. (2024). Statistical learning ability at 17 months relates to early reading skills via oral language Journal of Experimental Child Psychology
Monaghan, P., Donnelly, S., Alcock, K., Bidgood, A., Cain, K., Durrant, S., Frost, R. L. A., Jago, L., Peter, M. S., Pine, J. M., Turnbull, H., & Rowland, C. F. (2023). Learning to generalise but not segment an artificial language at 17 months predicts children’s language skills 3 years later. Cognitive Psychology
Scholman, M., Blything, L., Cain, K., Hoek, J., & Evers-Vermeul, J. (2022). Discourse rules: the effects of clause order principles on the reading process. Language, Cognition and Neuroscience.