Our Brains Were Never Meant to Read

Reading is not natural or instinctual for humans. We are hardwired to breathe, eat, think, and talk. But, reading is man’s own invention - a skill that needs to be learned and cultivated, just like any other. “With this invention we rearranged the very organization of our brain, which in turn expanded the ways we were able to think, which altered the intellectual evolution of our species,” (Maryanne Wolf, Proust and the Squid: The Story and Science of the Reading Brain). Reading is a skill that requires all parts of the brain. This is because it involves working memory, long term memory, language, cognitive functioning, and executive function (attention, inhibitory control, emotional regulation, cognitive flexibility). Because reading requires all of these skills, it also requires activation of the neural pathways that connect the distinct parts of the brain (Neurobiology Research Findings: How The Brain Works During Reading). Of course, to even get to the neural processing conversation, the brain must also be able to decode and make sense of text. This involves the sensory, visual, and auditory processes within the brain. 

When kids learn to read, new circuits are created in the brain. These circuits are made from existing cognitive and linguistic brain structures and become integrated into the brain’s neural pathways, but are not part of our genetic makeup. The way each child’s reading will develop - the way these circuits will form - depends on many external factors, such as how reading is taught to that child and the child’s native language (Maryanne Wolf, YouTube). 

Socioeconomic status (SES) is a very important predictor of how a child will learn to read and gain other academic skills. Within the umbrella of socioeconomic status, things like parental occupation, parental education, and income are considered. Often, children who come from lower SES backgrounds attend school in districts that are under-resourced and do not have funding to provide children with additional academic support. Whether or not a child speaks more than one language at home is also a large predictor of how a child’s brain develops as they learn language. Bilingual children have more neural pathways in their brain, which often makes it easier for them to problem solve due to the increased cognitive flexibility they must have in order to switch between languages. 

There is a common misconception that if a child’s parents are strong readers, the child will automatically be one, too. This is a myth. Children are not born genetically predisposed to be good readers. However, parents who are strong and passionate readers tend to model reading more for their children, instilling it as a fun activity in their household. If children are taught to prioritize reading at home from a young age, they often develop into much stronger readers.

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