Susana Padeliadu

I am currently a Professor of “Special Education – Learning Disabilities” in the Department of Philosophy & Pedagogy of Aristotle University of Thessaloniki in Greece. I have previously worked for ten years at the Department of Elementary Education of the same University, and at the Department of Special Education (University of Thessaly), for ten years as well. I hold a MA and a PhD in Special Education, from the Department of Instruction and Learning, University of Pittsburgh, USA. I have participated in more than 25 European and National projects and I have been the project leader in 17 R & D projects in the area of Learning Disabilities, Teacher Training and Inclusive Practices. I have written more than 100 articles in peer reviewed scientific journals and 8 books in Greek.

My particular expertise is empirical, large scale research on the developmental dimensions of reading and reading disabilities and the predictive factors leading to early instructional intervention, combining psychology and pedagogy perspectives. In particular, my research focuses on the cognitive and linguistic prerequisites of reading (metalinguistic awareness, motivation, metacognition) and their effects on decoding, and comprehension skills (especially for students with Learning Disabilities), as well as on educational planning. I have a special interest in test development and was in charge of the development of Test-A, a standardized reading test, used extensively since 2008 by the National Educational Diagnostic Centers in Greece (Published by the Greek Ministry of Education, 2008). Current research includes investigations about the co-existence of developmental reading disabilities and bilingualism and the effects of the different writing systems on decoding and reading comprehension.