![Louisa Moats](https://www.readingrockets.org/sites/default/files/styles/square_image_tablet_1x/public/profile/MTE_LouisaMoats.jpg?itok=95CBXXtp)
![Louisa Moats](https://www.readingrockets.org/sites/default/files/styles/square_image_tablet_1x/public/profile/MTE_LouisaMoats.jpg?itok=95CBXXtp)
Dr. Louisa Moats is the Director of Professional Development and Research Initiatives with Sopris West Educational Services. She directed the NICHD Early Reading Interventions Project in Washington, DC and worked on the California Reading Initiative as a Distinguished Visiting Scholar. She is the author of many books and articles including: Speech to Print: Language Essentials for Teachers, Parenting a Struggling Reader, as well as the professional development program, LETRS. Moats was recently a contributing writer of the CommonCore State Standards.
Moats began her professional career as a neuropsychology technician and teacher of students with learning disabilities. She earned her bachelor’s degree at Wellesley College, her master’s degree at Peabody College of Vanderbilt University, and her doctorate in reading and human development at the Harvard Graduate School of Education.
Moats has served as an adjunct professor of psychiatry at Dartmouth Medical School and a clinical associate professor of pediatrics at the University of Texas, Houston. She spent 15 years in private practice as a licensed psychologist in Vermont, specializing in evaluation and consultation with individuals of all ages who experienced difficulty with reading, spelling, writing, and oral language.
After advising the California Reading Initiative for one year, Moats spent four years as site director of the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD) Early Interventions Project in Washington, D.C., which included daily work with inner-city teachers and children. Conducted through the University of Texas at Houston, this longitudinal, large-scale project investigated the causes and remedies for reading failure in high-poverty urban schools.
In addition to LETRS her authored and coauthored books include Speech to Print; Straight Talk About Reading; and Basic Facts About Dyslexia. Instructional materials include Spellography and Primary Spelling by Pattern. She also has published numerous peer-reviewed journal articles, chapters, and policy papers, including the American Federation of Teachers’ Teaching Reading IS Rocket Science, the Learning First Alliance’s “Every Child Reading: A Professional Development Guide,” and Reading First’s “Blueprint for Professional Development.”
Dr. Moats also appeared as an expert in the Reading Rockets webcast, Teaching Writing.
Phonics and Decoding
Spelling and Word Study
Reading and the Brain
Spelling and Word Study
Early Literacy Development
Professional Development
Phonological and Phonemic Awareness
Spelling and Word Study
Early Literacy Development
Curriculum and Instruction
Teacher Education
Developmental Milestones