Rate My Professor Jakob Åsberg Johnels

Jakob Åsberg Johnels is Professor in the Department of Education and Special Education at the Faculty of Education, University of Gothenburg. He holds the position of Vice Head of Department with a focus on doctoral studies and is a member of the Collegium for Inclusion, Equality and Special Education (ILS). His academic work is closely associated with the Gillberg Neuropsychiatry Centre, where he contributes to research on neurodevelopmental disorders, known as ESSENCE, encompassing conditions such as autism spectrum disorders, dyslexia, attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder, and intellectual disabilities. Johnels' research specializations include language development, cognitive development, pragmatics, reading and writing skills, face and speech processing, sensory processing, motor coordination, parenting, family dynamics, and augmentative and alternative communication.

Johnels has produced extensive publications on these topics. Key works include 'Look me in the eyes: constraining gaze in the eye-region provokes abnormally high subcortical activation in autism' (2017); 'Reading comprehension, word decoding and spelling in girls with autism spectrum disorders (ASD) or attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (AD/HD): Performance and predictors' (2010); 'The co‐occurrence of neurodevelopmental problems in dyslexia' (2021); 'Bumetanide for autism: more eye contact, less amygdala activation' (2018); 'Autism, processing speed, and adaptive functioning in preschool children' (2013); 'Patterns of language and discourse comprehension skills in school‐aged children with autism spectrum disorders' (2010); 'Basic reading skills in high-functioning Swedish children with autism spectrum disorders or attention disorder' (2008); 'Does the family situation impact academic achievement differently in students with versus without neurodevelopmental disorders?' (2025); and 'Tracing the longitudinal role of orthographic knowledge in spelling development from primary to upper‐secondary school' (2024). His studies utilize eye-tracking, fNIRS, behavioral assessments, and Bayesian analysis to investigate academic achievement, interventions, and early detection in neurodiverse children. Johnels supervises doctoral theses, collaborates interdisciplinary on ESSENCE neurophysiology and educational research, and authors blog entries for the Gillberg Neuropsychiatry Centre on dyslexia, bullying, and nature connection.