The UF Reading Disabilities Program was formed to meet the needs of individuals in the community who have reading and writing difficulties. This program provides services to evaluate and remediate children and adults, while training speech-language pathology graduate students in these areas.
Are you or your child struggling with reading and writing?
- Sounding out words
- Reading fluently
- Spelling
- Understanding what you read
- Reading and writing without extreme effort and frustration
The UF Reading Program specializes in the diagnosis and remediation of reading and writing disorders.
We provide:
- Comprehensive language evaluations to diagnose oral and written language disorders, such as dyslexia
- Detailed reports, including specific recommendations for intervention and accommodations
- Evidence-based one-on-one intervention
Contact us for more information or to schedule an evaluation:
352-273-6560 or UFReadingProgram@phhp.ufl.edu

The UF Reading Program is a designated Scottish Rite Childhood Language Program clinic. Scholarships available through the Scottish Rite Foundation to eligible individuals to help cover the cost of the evaluation.
Laurie M Gauger
- Mailing Address:
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PO Box 100174
GAINESVILLE FL 32610
- Physical Address:
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1225 CENTER DRIVE, HPNP BUILDING, ROOM 2140
DEPARTMENT OF SPEECH, LANGUAGE, AND HEARING SCIENCES
GAINESVILLE FL 32610
Dr. Laurie Mercado Gauger is a Clinical Associate Professor in the Department of Speech, Language and Hearing Sciences. Dr. Gauger teaches undergraduate and graduate courses in language development and disorders. As Director of the UF Reading Disabilities Program, Dr. Gauger oversees the evaluation and treatment of children and adolescents with reading and writing disorders. She also supervises graduate students as they complete semester rotations in the clinic to gain experience and knowledge in working with this population. Dr. Gauger is involved in clinical research and supervises projects completed by undergraduate students completing their honor’s thesis research. In addition to this work, Dr. Gauger works with faculty in SLHS and well as in Education on grants on topics of reading and dyslexia.
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Certificate of Clinical CompetencyAmerican Speech, Language and Hearing Asociation
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State License in Speech-Language PathologyFlorida Board of Speech-Language Pathology and Audiology
- Developmental reading disorder
- Language disorders in children
Dr. Gauger’s area of research is in developmental dyslexia. Recently she completed a study comparing risk factors of young students with dyslexia and developmental language disorders, with a focus on rapid symbolic naming. Dr. Gauger also mentors undergraduate honor’s thesis students in communication sciences and disorders in supervised research. This has been an exceptionally rewarding experience for her because it allows her to not only expose students to the scientific method, but also to provide them with a more in-depth study of reading disabilities. Two students recently completed studies examining relationships between cognitive and reading skills for the purpose of identifying students who are at risk for reading disabilities. These students’ work has been accepted at conferences where they have presented their research. Dr. Gauger is also a member of five doctor of education committees. The focus of the five dissertations is reading.
- Identification of children at risk for reading disabilities
- developmental reading disabilities
- treatment of children with developmental reading disabilities
- 2016 E-Hearsay
- 2014 Perspectives in Language Learning and Education
- 1999 International Journal of Language & Communication Disorders
- 1998 Florida Journal of Communication Disorders
- 1997 Journal of speech, language, and hearing research : JSLHR
- 1996 Psychological Science
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1992-1995
Doctor of Philosophy in Speech-Language PathologyUniversity of Florida
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1987-1989
Master of Arts in Speech-Language PathologyUniversity of Florida
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1985-1987
Bachelor of Arts in Speech-Language Pathology and AudiologyUniversity of Florida