Can Reading Grow Your Brain? Yes!
What if older readers with learning disabilities could read and enjoy books of the same quality as their peers? What if they could reorganize their brains by creating new neural connections through increased reading? Could reading more increase their opportunities for life success?
However, our adolescent, teen and young adult LD learners hardly read at all.
And this produces grim results in school. Students with LD experience course failure at a much higher rate than their non-disabled peers. Sixty-nine percent of students with LD have failed one or more graded courses in secondary school, compared to 47 percent of students in the general population. One third of students with LD have been held back in a grade at least once. (National Center for Learning Disabilities, 2014).
We don’t have good statistics for those over 18 since many do not acknowledge their disability—or they compensate for it in a variety of ways. But we do know that those with learning disabilities have a reduced chance of success in the work force with 46% of working-age LD adults being employed, as compared to 71 percent of adults without LD (National Center for Education Statistics, 2007). Sixty seven percent earned $25,000 or less per year within eight years of leaving high school (Morin, 2014).
All this can lead teachers and parents to be discouraged, unless we look at interventions that can improve their learners’ outcomes. All our lives, we’ve heard that reading is the key. Are there ways to re-engage LD students in the reading process? If we can, there is a real opportunity for them to make the neural connections that expand their brain capacity. Our growing understanding of neuroplasticity helps us to understand that literacy can improve throughout life. “There are a few broad principles that we can state come out of neuroscience,” says Kurt Fischer, education professor and director of the Mind, Brain, and Education Program at Harvard University. “Number one? The brain is remarkably plastic,” Fischer explains. “Even in middle or old age, it’s still adapting very actively to its environment” (Bernard, 2010).
Neuroplasticity is the brain’s ability to reorganize itself by forming new neural connections throughout life. Recent research in neuroscience shows that the brain is not static, but rather is dynamically changing and undergoing such transformation throughout one’s entire life.
But there is a caveat. Brain stimulation must stay constant or increase in order for students to make these neural connections. If adolescents give up on reading once they get to middle school, the brain’s reading network will cease to develop. “When we reach adolescence, a massive “pruning back” operation begins in the brain and synaptic connections and neurons that have not been used extensively suddenly die off—a classic case of ‘use it or lose it.’” (Doidge, 2007).
The good news is that in cases where LD readers have learned that their brain capacity can expand, the results have been positive, not only in their improved performance, but in their attitudes and self-image. A study found that both morale and grade points took a leap forward when students understood the idea that intelligence is pliable. (Blackwell, Trzesniewski & Dweck, 2007).
Parents and educators must now address not only the precipitous reading decline among older LD students but the grim projections for brain development as a result of it. To change outcomes for this group, the answer must lie in motivating them to read more. Fortunately, there are two promising resources to explore and develop further in order to address this issue: illustrations and digital media.
One theory for the diminishing interest in reading among LD students is the general absence of illustrations in their reading materials. Younger children with reading difficulties often find support in books with pictures that reinforce the text. Illustrations help young readers create mental images of simple story lines and well-defined characters. In many ways, pictures serve as the key to reading enjoyment for children who have difficulty turning abstract concepts into concrete thoughts.
However, there are scant resources for older readers in the form of the picture book. This audience has long outgrown the juvenile story lines and characters that mark many of the choices in this category. Illustrated books for older readers, although they do exist in the form of “Hi-Lo” readers (high interest, low reading level), are limited in number and scope. Graphic novels offer illustrations, but sometimes in a frenzied format with multiple panels on one page and dialogue bubbles advancing the story, which some LD readers find confusing.
Publishers of literary materials for LD adolescents, teens and young adults could serve this population well by offering a broad range of richly illustrated products, both print and digital, that provide the kind of imagery these readers need to support their comprehension. Digital illustrations can offer the same comprehension support as print, but can also provide two distinct advantages: the innate appeal of digital platforms to young people, and the ability for interactivity which can enrich the teaching potential of the product.
When we consider these facts, the answers to the questions first presented in this article can be resoundingly positive if publishers and developers explore innovative changes to the resources that are currently offered to LD readers. These learners need more age-appropriate reading material in an illustrated, interactive digital format to improve their prospects for the future. Educators and parents will serve these teens and young adults well by seeking out, requesting and using these types of resources. The learning disabled continue to require intelligent and informed advocates to increase their opportunities for life success.
Dr. Maria Finaro Cleary is a parent of a learning disabled young adult and works as an interim school superintendent. She is the President of Readeezy, a company that produces reading resources that are illustrated, animated, interactive and age-appropriate created for adolescent, teen and young adult challenged readers. She hopes to create an entire Readeezy library so these learners will have a choice of engaging stories to read and a chance to improve their live outcomes. See www.readeezy.com for more information and to purchase the book.
Doidge, Norman. (2007). The brain that changes itself: Stories of personal triumph from the frontiers of brain science. New York: Viking.
Doidge, Norman. (2015). The brain’s way of healing: Remarkable discoveries and recoveries from the frontiers of neuroplasticity. New York: Viking.
Blackwell, Lisa, Kali H. Trzesniewski and Carol Sorich Dweck. (2007). Implicit theories of intelligence predict achievement across adolescent transition: a longitudinal study and an intervention. Child Development, 78(1), 246 – 263.
Bernard, S. (2010). Neuroplasticity: learning physically changes the Brain. Edutopia. Retrieved October 15, 2015 from http://www.edutopia.org/neuroscience-brain-based-learning-neuroplasticity.
Morin, Amanda. (2014) Learning disabilities, facts, trends and stats. Understood. Retrieved October 20, 2015 from https://www.understood.org/en/learning-attention-issues/getting-started/what-you-need-to-know/learning-disabilities-facts-trends-and-stats.
