Professor Saskia Kohnen

Clinic Director of the Australian Literacy Clinic
The Australian Centre for the Advancement of Literacy

Saskia Kohnen

Areas of expertise: typical and atypical acquisition of reading and spelling; effective treatment of reading difficulties; spoken and written language difficulties; teaching irregular word reading and spelling; phonics; literacy intervention"

Email: saskia.kohnen@acu.edu.au

Location: ACU North Sydney Campus

HDR Supervisor accreditation status: Full

ORCID ID: 0000-0002-7802-071X

Professor Kohnen is the Director of the Australian Literacy Clinic, which opened in January 2024. She leads a multidisciplinary team of teachers, psychologists, speech pathologists and cognitive scientists who assess and treat children, adolescents and adults with reading and spelling difficulties. Professor Kohnen is a qualified Diplom Patholinguist from Potsdam University, which combines linguistics and clinical skills when working with people who have spoken and written language difficulties. She completed a PhD at Macquarie University, where she co-founded and directed the Macquarie University Reading Clinic.

Professor Kohnen's research focuses on both typical and atypical acquisition of reading and spelling, how to assess and effectively treat these difficulties. Her knowledge is translated into practice at the Literacy Clinic and when working with teachers and clinicians in Australia and overseas. This, in turn, inspires her research.

Read more about the Literacy Clinic here

Publications 

  • Ruiz, C, Kohnen, S., Muñez, D., Bull, R. (2024). The development of number line estimation in children at risk of mathematics learning difficulties. Journal of Experimental Child Psychology. DOI:10.1016/j.jecp.2024.105916.
  • Svaldi, C., Kohnen, S.,Robidoux, S.,Vos, K.,Reinders, A., Arunachalam, S., Jonkers, R., de Aguiar, V.. (2024). Spoken verb learning in children with language disorder. Journal of Experimental Child Psychology 2024-06. DOI: 1016/j.jecp.2024.105881
  • Colenbrander, D., von Hagen, A., Kohnen, S., Wegener, S., Ko, K., Beyersmann, E., Behzadnia, A., Parrila, R., Castles, A. (2024). The effects of morphology instruction on literacy outcomes for children in English-speaking countries: A systematic review and meta-analysis DOI: 31234/osf.io/7h6zr (pre-print).
  • McArthur, G., Doust, A., Banales, E., Robidoux, S., & Kohnen, S. (2023). Are comorbidities of poor reading related to elevated anxiety in children? Annals of Dyslexia, 1-19. DOI:1007/s11881-023-00292-6.
  • Ruiz, C., Kohnen, S., von Hagen, A., Kwok, F. Y., & Bull, R. (2023). Which domain-specific skills at the beginning of formal schooling predict later mathematical achievement? A systematic review and meta-analysis. Educational Research Review, 100583. DOI:1016/j.edurev.2023.100583
  • Ruiz, C., Kohnen, S., & Bull, R. (2023). Number Line Estimation Patterns and Their Relationship with Mathematical Performance. Journal of Numerical Cognition,9(2), 285-301. DOI: https://doi.org/10.25949/22558528.v1
  • Svaldi, C., Paquier, P., Keulen, S., van Elp, H., Catsman-Berrevoets, C., Kingma, A., Jonkers, R., Kohnen, S. & de Aguiar, V. (2024). Characterising the long-term language impairments of children following cerebellar tumour surgery by extracting psycholinguistic properties from spontaneous language. The Cerebellum, 23(2), 523-544. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12311-023-01563-z
  • Colenbrander, D., Kohnen, S. (2023). Word Reading: The Role of the Speech-Language Pathologist. Perspectives of the ASHA Special Interest Groups. DOI: 1044/2023_PERSP-23-00054
  • Colenbrander, D., Kohnen, S., Beyersmann, E., Robidoux, S., Wegener, S., Arrow, T., Nation, K., Castles, A. (2022). Teaching Children to Read Irregular Words: A Comparison of Three Instructional Methods. Scientific Studies of Reading. DOI:1080/10888438.2022.2077653
  • von Hagen, A., Kohnen, S., Stadie, N. (2021). Foreign Language Attainment of Children/Adolescents with Poor Literacy Skills: A Systematic Review and Meta-analysis. Educational Psychology Review, 33(2), 459-488. DOI:1007/s10648-020-09566-6
  • Kohnen, S., Banales, E., McArthur, G. (2021). Videoconferencing interventions for children with reading and spelling difficulties. Telemedicine Journal and e-Health. DOI:1089/tmj.2020.0061
  • Francis, D., Hudson, J. L., Kohnen, S., Mobach, L., & McArthur, G. M. (2021). The effect of an integrated reading and anxiety intervention for poor readers with anxiety. PeerJ, 9, e10987. DOI:7717/peerj.10987
  • Céspedes, S. A. P., Yu, L., de Aguiar, V., Jonkers, R., Castelli, S., & Kohnen, S. (2021). Eye movement patterns of primary-school aged children with developmental dyslexia learning to read alphabetic orthographies.
  • Krajenbrink, T., Nickels, L., Kohnen, S. (2021).Serial position effects in graphemic buffer impairment: An insight into components of orthographic working memory. Cognitive Neuropsychology. DOI: 1080/02643294.2021.1914015
  • Barr, P., Biedermann, B., Joseph Tainturier, M., Kohnen, S., Nickels, L. (2020). Too harts, won sole. Neuropsychological Rehabilitation. DOI: 10.1080/09602011.2019.1629302
  • Larsen, L., Kilian Schauber, S., Kohnen, S., Nickels, L., McArthur, L. (2020). Children's knowledge of single- and multiple-letter grapheme-phoneme correspondences. Early Childhood Research Quarterly. DOI: 10.1016/j.ecresq.2019.12.001
  • Krajenbrink, T., Kohnen, S., & Nickels, L. (2020). An Overlooked Cause of Writing Impairment in People with Aphasia: Characteristics, Assessment and Treatment of Graphemic Buffer Impairment. Journal of Clinical Practice in Speech-Language Pathology, 22(1), 15-21.
  • Wheldall, K., Wheldall, R., Madelaine, A., Reynolds, M., Arakelian, S., & Kohnen, S. (2019). ‘Just Teach Our Kids to Read’: Efficacy of Intensive Reading Interventions for Both Younger and Older Low-Progress Readers in Schools Serving Mainly Remote Indigenous Communities. Literacy Education and Indigenous Australians: Theory, Research and Practice, 221-246. DOI: 10.1007/978-981-13-8629-9_13
  • Barisic, K., Kohnen, S., & Nickels, L. (2019). Developmental graphemic buffer dysgraphia in English: A single case study. In Developmental Dysgraphia (pp. 30-54). Routledge.
  • McArthur, G., Sheehan, Y., Badcock, N., Francis, D., Wang, H.C., Kohnen, S., Banales, E., Anandakumar, T., Marinus, E., Castles, A. (2018). Phonics training for English-speaking poor readers. Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews. DOI: 1002/14651858.CD009115.pub3
  • Marinus, E., Kezilas, Y., Kohnen, S., Robidoux, S., Castles, A. (2018). Who are the noisiest neighbors in the hood? Using error analyses to study the acquisition of letter-position processing. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory, and Cognition. DOI: 10.1037/xlm0000524
  • Kohnen, S., Nickels, L., Geigis, L., Coltheart, M., McArthur, G., Castles, A. (2018). Variations within a subtype. Cortex. DOI: 10.1016/j.cortex.2018.04.008
  • Brawn, G., Kohnen, S., Tassabehji, M., & Porter, M. (2018). Functional basic reading skills in Williams syndrome. Developmental Neuropsychology, 43(5), 454-477. DOI: 10.1080/87565641.2018.1455838
  • Larsen, L., Kohnen, S., McArthur, G., Nickels, L. (2018). An investigation of grapheme parsing and grapheme-phoneme knowledge in two children with dyslexia. Reading and Writing, 31, 991-1015. DOI: 10.1007/s11145-018-9823-z
  • Nickels, L., Kohnen, S., & Rapp, B. (2018). Treatment as a tool for investigating cognition. Psychology Press.
  • Krajenbrink, T., Nickels, L., Kohnen, S. (2017). No effect of orthographic neighbourhood in treatment with two cases of acquired dysgraphia. Aphasiology, 31(5), 595-628. DOI: 10.1080/02687038.2016.1218435
  • Colenbrander, D., Nickels, L., & Kohnen, S. (2017). Similar but different: differences in comprehension diagnosis on the Neale Analysis of Reading Ability and the York Assessment of Reading for Comprehension. Journal of Research in Reading, 40(4), 403-419. DOI: 10.1111/1467-9817.12075
  • Schubert, T., Badcock, N., Kohnen, S. (2017). Development of children's identity and position processing for letter, digit, and symbol strings. Journal of Experimental Child Psychology, 162, 163-180. DOI: 10.1016/j.jecp.2017.05.008
  • Barisic, K., Kohnen, S., Nickels, L. (2017). Developmental graphemic buffer dysgraphia in English. Cognitive Neuropsychology. DOI: 10.1080/02643294.2017.1359154
  • Kezilas, Y., McKague, M., Kohnen, S., Badcock, N. A., & Castles, A. (2017). Disentangling the developmental trajectories of letter position and letter identity coding using masked priming. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory, and Cognition, 43(2), 250. DOI: 10.1037/xlm0000293
  • Colenbrander, D., Kohnen, S., Smith-Lock, K., & Nickels, L. (2016). Individual differences in the vocabulary skills of children with poor reading comprehension. Learning and Individual Differences, 50, 210-220.
  • Kezilas, Y., Kohnen, S., McKague, M., Robidoux, S., & Castles, A. (2016). Word and pseudoword superiority effects on letter position processing in developing and skilled readers. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Human Perception and Performance, 42(12), 1989.
  • Nickels, L., Rapp, B., & Kohnen, S. (2016). Introduction: challenges in the use of treatment to investigate cognition. In Treatment as a tool for investigating cognition (pp. 1-13). Routledge, Taylor and Francis Group.
  • Banales, E., Kohnen, S., McArthur, G. (2016). Can verbal working memory training improve reading? Treatment as a tool for investigating cognition. Book chapter in ISBN 9781138657625
  • McArthur, G., Castles, A., Kohnen, S., & Banales, E. (2016). Low self-concept in poor readers: prevalence, heterogeneity, and risk. PeerJ, 4, e2669.
  • McArthur, G., Castles, A., Kohnen, S., Larsen, L., Jones, K., Anandakumar, T., & Banales, E. (2015). Sight word and phonics training in children with dyslexia. Journal of learning disabilities, 48(4), 391-407.
  • Banales, E., Kohnen, S., & McArthur, G. (2015). Can verbal working memory training improve reading? Cognitive neuropsychology, 32(3-4), 104-132.
  • Larsen, L., Kohnen, S., Nickels, L., & McArthur, G. (2015). The Letter-Sound Test (LeST): A reliable and valid comprehensive measure of grapheme–phoneme knowledge. Australian journal of learning difficulties, 20(2), 129-142.
  • Kohnen, S., Colenbrander, D., Krajenbrink, T., & Nickels, L. (2015). Assessment of lexical and non-lexical spelling in students in Grades 1–7. Australian Journal of Learning Difficulties, 20(1), 15-38.
  • Krajenbrink, T., Nickels, L., & Kohnen, S. (2015). Generalisation after treatment of acquired spelling impairments: A review. Neuropsychological rehabilitation, 25(4), 503-554.
  • Kohnen, S., & Nickels, L. (2015). Cognitive neuropsychology, methods of. In International encyclopedia of the social and behavioral sciences(pp. 90-94). Elsevier.
  • Nickels, L., Rapp, B., & Kohnen, S. (2015). Challenges in the use of treatment to investigate cognition. Cognitive Neuropsychology, 32(3-4), 91-103.
  • McArthur, G., Kohnen, S., Jones, K., Eve, P., Banales, E., Larsen, L., & Castles, A. (2015). Replicability of sight word training and phonics training in poor readers: a randomised controlled trial. PeerJ, 3, e922.
  • Kezilas, Y., Kohnen, S., McKague, M., & Castles, A. (2014). The locus of impairment in English developmental letter position dyslexia. Frontiers in human neuroscience, 8, 356.
  • Krajenbrink, T., Nickels, L., & Kohnen, S. (2014). Investigating the role of neighbours in treatment of acquired dysgraphia. Stem-, Spraak-en Taalpathologie, 19(1), 142-144.
  • Castles, A., Kohnen, S., Nickels, L., & Brock, J. (2014). Developmental disorders: what can be learned from cognitive neuropsychology? Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences, 369(1634), 20130407.
  • Collis, N. L., Kohnen, S., & Kinoshita, S. (2013). The role of visual spatial attention in adult developmental dyslexia. Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology, 66(2), 245-260.
  • Kohnen, S., & Castles, A. (2013). Pirates at parties: Letter position processing in developing readers. Journal of experimental child psychology, 115(1), 91-107.
  • Marinus, E., Kohnen, S., & McArthur, G. (2013). Australian comparison data for the Test of Word Reading Efficiency (TOWRE). Australian Journal of Learning Difficulties, 18(2), 199-212.
  • Kohnen, S., Nickels, L., Castles, A., Friedmann, N., & McArthur, G. (2013). Corrigendum to “When ‘slime’becomes ‘smile’: Developmental letter position dyslexia in English”. Neuropsychologia, 6(51), 1143-1144.
  • McArthur, G., Kohnen, S., Larsen, L., Jones, K., Anandakumar, T., Banales, E., & Castles, A. (2013). Getting to grips with the heterogeneity of developmental dyslexia. Cognitive neuropsychology, 30(1), 1-24.
  • Moore, D. M., Porter, M. A., Kohnen, S., & Castles, A. (2012). Detecting different types of reading difficulties: A comparison of tests. Australasian Journal of Special Education, 36(2), 112-133.
  • Larsen, L., Kohnen, S., McArthur, G., & Nickels, L. (2012). Decoding words: The relationship between parsing and grapheme-phoneme knowledge. In Combined Abstracts of 2012 Australian Psychology Conferences.
  • Kohnen, S., Glenn, K., McArthur, G., & Nickels, L. (2012). The Diagnostic Spelling Test for Sounds tests (DiSTs): normative data for K-3.
  • Kohnen, S., Anandakumar, T., McArthur, G., & Castles, A. (2012). The test of orthographic choice (TOC).
  • Kohnen, S., Nickels, L., Castles, A., Friedmann, N., & McArthur, G. (2012). When ‘slime’becomes ‘smile’: Developmental letter position dyslexia in English. Neuropsychologia, 50(14), 3681-3692.
  • Coltheart, M., & Kohnen, S. (2012). Acquired and developmental disorders of reading and spelling. The handbook of the neuropsychology of language, 1, 892-920.
  • Jones, K., Castles, A., & Kohnen, S. (2011). Subtypes of developmental reading disorders: Recent developments and directions for treatment. ACQ, 13(2), 79-83.
  • Kohnen, S. (2011). Vernachlässigte Dyslexien: Visuell-orthographische Verarbeitung bei Entwicklungsdyslexie. Spektrum Patholinguistik, (4), 75-81.
  • Costard, S., Stadie, N., Ritter, C., Moll, K., Landerl, K., Kohnen, S., ... & Kauschke, C. (2011). Spektrum Patholinguistik= Schwerpunktthema: Lesen lernen: Diagnostik und Therapie bei Störungen des Leseerwerbs.
  • Colenbrander, D., Nickels, L., & Kohnen, S. (2011). Nonword reading tests: A review of the available resources. Australasian Journal of Special Education, 35(2), 137-172.
  • Kohnen, S., & Nickels, L. (2010). Teaching children with developmental spelling difficulties in a one-on-one context. Australasian Journal of Special Education, 34(1), 36-60.
  • Kohnen, S., Nickels, L., & Coltheart, M. (2010). Training ‘rule‐of‐’: further investigation of a previously successful intervention for a spelling rule in developmental mixed dysgraphia. Journal of Research in Reading, 33(4), 392-413.
  • Nickels, L., Kohnen, S., & Biedermann, B. (2010). An untapped resource: Treatment as a tool for revealing the nature of cognitive processes. Cognitive Neuropsychology, 27(7), 539-562.
  • Kohnen, S., Nickels, L., & Coltheart, M. (2010). Skill generalisation in teaching spelling to children with learning difficulties. Australian Journal of Learning Difficulties, 15(2), 115-129.
  • Kohnen, S., Nickels, L., & Castles, A. (2009). Assessing spelling skills and strategies: A critique of available resources. Australian journal of learning difficulties, 14(1), 113-150.
  • Nickels, L., Kohnen, S., & Smith-Lock, K. (2009). Understanding and treating develop-mental literacy impairments using a cognitive neuropsychological approach. ACQuiring knowledge in speech, language and hearing, 11(2), 120-121.
  • Kohnen, S., Nickels, L., Brunsdon, R., & Coltheart, M. (2008). Patterns of generalisation after treating sub‐lexical spelling deficits in a child with mixed dysgraphia. Journal of Research in Reading, 31(1), 157-177.
  • Kohnen, S., Nickels, L., Coltheart, M., & Brunsdon, R. (2008). Predicting generalization in the training of irregular-word spelling: Treating lexical spelling deficits in a child. Cognitive neuropsychology, 25(3), 343-375.
  • Kohnen, S. (2007). Cognitive Neuropsychological Rehabilition in Childhood Dysgraphia(Doctoral dissertation, Macquarie University).

Projects

  • Australian Research Council (2008-2013). "Using generalisation to better treat poor spelling". Kohnen, S. ($240,000).
  • National Health and Medical Research Council (2008-2013). "A randomised control trial of treatments for children with different types of reading difficulty". Kohnen, S. (AUD 752,320).

Editorial roles

  • Associate Editor, Journal of Research in Reading (current)

Public engagement

Presentations

  • Banales, E., & Kohnen, S. 2024, March. Telehealth literacy interventions can improve spelling scores. Paper presented at the Dyslexia SPELD Foundation conference, Perth, Australia.
  • Colenbrander, D. & Kohnen, S. Irregular words: Myths, misconceptions and methods of instruction. 2024 DSF Language, Literacy and Learning Conference. Perth, Australia.
  • Banales, E., & Kohnen, S. Can we harness telehealth to improve literacy outcomes for students with reading and spelling difficulties? 2024 DSF Language, Literacy and Learning Conference. Perth, Australia.
  • Banales, E., McArthur, G., Kohnen, S. July 2023. Telehealth literacy interventions can improve spelling scores. Society for the Scientific Study of Reading, Port Douglas, Australia.
  • Parrila, R., Daniel, T., Wegener, S., Kohnen, S., Colenbrander, D., & Rigobon, V. M. 2 Sept 2023. The Australian Centre for the Advancement of Literacy's Inaugural Evidence to Practice One Day Conference: Reading and Spelling Words. [Professional development seminar]. Australian Catholic University, Ballarat, Australia.
  • Colenbrander, D., & Kohnen, S. 2024.Irregular Words: Myths, Misconceptions and Methods of Instruction. DSF Conference - Language Literacy and Learning, Perth, Australia.
  • Colenbrander, D., Robidoux, S., Caruana, N., Barisic, K., Badcock, E., Banales, E., & Kohnen, S. 2024. Measuring morphological spelling proficiency in adolescents. Thirty-first Annual Meeting of the Society for the Scientific Study of Reading, Copenhagen, Denmark.
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