Dr Elsje van Bergen
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drelsje.bsky.social
Dr Elsje van Bergen
@drelsje.bsky.social
A/Prof Psychology @ VU Amsterdam; Visiting Prof @ Oslo.
Educational Genetics | Neurodiversity | Intergenerational Transmission
🧬📖➗👨‍👩‍👧‍👦 #ERC-StG #VIDI 🤸acrobat
https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=X2U5w7UAAAAJ&hl=nl&oi=ao
For anyone who loves a good visual: this UpSet plot shows how combinations of ADHD and learning difficulties co-occur.
• Single dots = 1 condition
• Connected dots = ≥2
Learning difficulties co-occur ~4.5× more with each other, but only ~1.5× with ADHD.
🔗 osf.io/rvd9q/
3/5
November 17, 2025 at 4:28 PM
Does ADHD cause learning difficulties?
RI-CLPMs show:
• no cross-lagged effects with reading fluency or arithmetic
• consistent effects from ADHD to later reading comprehension
Shared risk factors explain most overlap—except for comprehension, where ADHD predicts slower growth.
🔗 osf.io/rvd9q/
2/5
November 17, 2025 at 4:28 PM
In 2,000 children followed from Grades 1–9, we find that #LearningDifficulties co-occur strongly with each other, but only weakly with #ADHD.
While ADHD affects reading comprehension over time, it does not drive reading fluency or arithmetic.
🔗 osf.io/rvd9q/
Led by @mpsyridou.bsky.social
1/5
November 17, 2025 at 4:28 PM
✨ Everything I do is #TeamScience — collaboration across countries, disciplines & perspectives.

Grateful to the International #Dyslexia Association for recognising our work with the 2025 Early Career Award in Atlanta.

🧬 Full story by @vuamsterdam.bsky.social:
vu.nl/en/news/2025...

#DyslexiaCon25
November 12, 2025 at 8:52 PM
✨ Honoured to receive the 2025 Early Career Award at #DyslexiaCon25!

I’ll give my award talk on Fri 3:50pm
🎓 Decoding the Gene–Environment Interplay on Dyslexia

Grateful to all my collaborators and lab members— #TeamScience is all I do 💙

🔗 About the award files.constantcontact.com/e2798027001/...
October 24, 2025 at 12:36 AM
👩‍🔬 Review paper by me @nickyjdawson.bsky.social @emljames.bsky.social @salonikrishnan.bsky.social; figures by Neil Usher doi.org/10.31234/osf...
🖼️ writing retreat
Grateful to Kate Nation @kateewatkins.bsky.social Courtenay Norbury & @orbenamy.bsky.social for bringing us together

🧵☝️ (end of thread)
October 6, 2025 at 10:03 AM
💬 This paper grew from a special issue celebrating Professor @deevybee.bsky.social—four of us invited from different fields for a “scientific blind date.”

That spark became a truly interdisciplinary review.
📖 doi.org/10.31234/osf...

🖼️ writing retreat, Wellcome Collection (London)
October 6, 2025 at 10:03 AM
🔄 Interventions don’t just apply research—they test and refine it.

By linking theory, evidence & practice, we learn which mechanisms drive change and how to make support effective in real settings.

📖 doi.org/10.31234/osf...

🖼️ theory↔research↔practice cycle
By @nickyjdawson.bsky.social
October 6, 2025 at 10:03 AM
🧩Learning new words relies first on the hippocampus, then shifts to long-term storage in the neocortex

Over time, memory reorganisation turns new knowledge into lasting vocabulary—showing why studying learning over time matters

📖 doi.org/10.31234/osf... @emljames.bsky.social
🖼️hippocampus→neocortex
October 6, 2025 at 10:03 AM
🧠 Language & reading rely on networks across the brain—no single “reading area.”

Both cortical regions (like the superior temporal gyrus & inferior frontal gyrus) and deeper structures (like the striatum) contribute to learning.

🖼️ cortical & subcortical language networks

📖 doi.org/10.31234/osf...
October 6, 2025 at 10:03 AM
🏠 Language & reading often “run in families” — not just through shared environment, but also through shared genes.

Parents pass on both DNA & experiences. Their own traits shape the home & how they interact with children — creating gene–environment correlations.

🖼️ child ↔ parents ↔ broader context
October 6, 2025 at 10:03 AM
🧬 Language & reading show moderate to high heritability—differences among children are partly inherited.

A polygenic score sums thousands of tiny DNA effects to estimate genetic propensity, but it’s not destiny: environment & chance still matter.

🖼️ many small variants → one polygenic score
October 6, 2025 at 10:03 AM
📊 Language & reading skills form a continuum—not two groups of “typical” vs “disordered”

Conditions like dyslexia or developmental language disorder (DLD) reflect the lower end of normal variation in these skills, not distinct categories

🖼️ continuous distribution of ability, with cut-offs shown
October 6, 2025 at 10:03 AM
🧩Learning to talk & read isn’t just about effort or teaching—it’s shaped by biology, experience & context

🧠Our new review links genetics, neuroscience, psychology & education to show why some children find language or reading easier.

📖 doi.org/10.31234/osf...

🖼️genes→brain→cognition→behaviour 🧵👇
October 6, 2025 at 10:03 AM
✨ A special week in Oxford ✨

invited talk in London
collaborations at Psychiatry & Psychology
Neurodiversity conference
training with Oxford Acrobatics 🤸‍♀️
and catching up with mentors & icons @deevybee.bsky.social & Maggie Snowling
📸 Staying at a College never loses its magic!

#OHbrcNDconference
September 19, 2025 at 9:31 PM
Had the pleasure to talk in London, on my way to Oxford 🎓!
👉 ADHD, dyslexia & dyscalculia co-occur due to genetic risks
👉 ADHD runs in families mostly via genetic transmission:
👉 Educational achievement runs in families because genetics dominate, though parents and relatives still matter
🔗 Links 👇
September 18, 2025 at 1:18 PM
Put down your work for a moment—for Gaza. Let’s demand an end to support for war crimes.
This is part of a Netherlands-wide action today. Who at @vuamsterdam.bsky.social will join me today at noon on the VU campus?

#wijwerkenhiernietaanmee
🔗 wijwerkenhiernietaanmee.nl/en
September 1, 2025 at 7:04 AM
Learning #Norwegian has been a wonderful (and labour-intensive!) journey — one that made me feel truly part of society here. 💙🗣️
Takk, Norge, for språket og samtalene!

#LanguageLearning #LifelongLearning #AcademicLife #Duolingo #MovingAbroad #Norskprøve #UiO #VisitingProfessor
July 28, 2025 at 6:16 AM
As an academic parent, carving out me-time is always a balancing act, even on holiday!
📍 Then: Netherlands, 2021
📍 Now: Norway, 2025
Same #yoga pose ⬇️🐶, same cuddly chaos.
#AcademicParent #AcademicMom #WorkLifeBalance #AcroYoga
July 23, 2025 at 12:57 PM
Maths, reading, writing — and referencing
My first grader is basically doing my job!
This is the final page of his rainforest report. Just like me, he’s learning that knowledge builds on what others have discovered before.
@academic-chatter.bsky.social #academicmom
July 19, 2025 at 2:48 PM
The @jacobsfoundation.bsky.social Fellows—great to connect with this inspiring group of developmental scientists 🌍

📷 brilliant friends in child development & (epi)genetics: @laraffington.bsky.social @rosacheesman.bsky.social @marghmalanchini.bsky.social
🔗 Apply: jacobsfoundation.org/activity/jac...
July 1, 2025 at 6:30 PM
It reminds me of shared reading: it correlates ~.35 with children’s language skills—so a promising target! But in RCTs with active control groups, it doesn’t improve language.

Here’s a slide I often show in talks
doi.org/10.1037/a002...
doi.org/10.1016/j.ed... @carorowland.bsky.social
June 27, 2025 at 7:56 PM
My favourite #AcademicWriting tools
✔️ Structure your paragraph by starting with a topic sentence.
✔️ Avoid nominalisations (put actors in the subject and their actions in the verb).
✔️ Put material you want to emphasise at the end of the sentence.

from Kail: uk.sagepub.com/en-gb/eur/sc...
June 13, 2025 at 9:29 PM
Just back from a great retreat with CREATE (@uio.no), where I gave a workshop on academic writing:

✍️ how to get yourself to write (Sarnecka: osf.io/n8pc3/)
🧠 how to write clearly (Kail: uk.sagepub.com/en-gb/eur/sc...)

See 🔽 for some writing tools!
June 13, 2025 at 9:29 PM
Guess which uni I'm visiting this week? And where this picture was taken?
So lovely to be back in my postdoc town for the week. If you're around and would like to connect — especially if you're an early career researcher — I'd love to meet you!
June 2, 2025 at 2:55 PM