Spotlight: The SOLAR Lab

La Trobe’s Science of Language and Reading (SOLAR) Lab is helping schools to adopt well-established, scientific approaches to improve how they teach children to read.
Professor Pamela Snow and Associate Professor Tanya Serry – who founded the Lab in 2020 – are collaborating with researchers, teachers, school leaders and allied health professionals to integrate evidence-based approaches into classroom practice to promote success in reading, writing, and spelling.
Short courses
The SOLAR Lab offers a series of online short courses on the science of language and reading, designed for classroom teachers, literacy leaders, principals, allied health clinicians, and parents who are interested to know more about the linguistic foundations of reading and evidence-informed teaching practices.

The work of the SOLAR Lab emphasises structured literacy instruction. This instruction is paired with ongoing support in developing oral language, vocabulary and background knowledge.