Brain pathways for reading

As an educational consultant who helps parents find books for their children, the number one question I'm asked is "what can we do because our child is having such difficulty with reading?"

First of all, let me say the problems with reading are not usually a weakness or learning disability of the child, rather it points to the methods and process of how and when the child has been exposed to the reading in a relational way, specifically the written word. Before we point blame at educators, parents, or pass the problem off on a disability, lets note that the experts in the field of reading education have always said -- they all catch up around 5th or 6th grade.

Quite a generalized statement -- too bad it doesn't come with an explanation. I will attempt to explain -- This great 'mystery' of teaching reading has everything to do with the brain development of the child from birth until the day they show up in the classroom. This place in time is sometimes referred to as "The Window of Opportunity" and I will do a follow up post on specifics.

The early or late factor is actually about the types of experiences the child has with words and books long before he ever walked through the doors of a school!

So for starters, the truth is children do eventually catch up. For some it doesn't take all that long, for others it may seem to take forever, the bottom line is -- so long as they have an interest in reading.

This is all about timing. The debate goes round and round over when to formally begin to teach reading. Lets look at how the brain develops to see when the optimum time for learning to read is easier vs more difficult. Early or late, a child can and will learn to read.

Babies learn spoken language and understand it long before their ability to speak. The same is true for sign-language. But in general, no one seems to think that the written word can be understood as early, well why not?

Speech Language Pathologists will tell you that if there is obstruction of the hearing mode, it directly affects speech development. The brain wires the phonemic sounds of the native language during these crucial first 2 years of life. So if hearing or seeing are affected, then, these two channels of mapping the brain are vital to creating the infrastructure that reading depends upon.

Brain research has discovered that the neurons in the brain at birth are firing off up to 1,000 trillions of connections a second. It basically records channels to everything it gets exposed to. Heat, cold, quiet, loud, bright dark. All the senses provide the input. Seeing, Hearing, Smell, Taste, Touch, etc. When those things are not involved, the channels available for those tasks drop of significantly.


This process is all about the amount of time the brain synapses are exposed to the various elements of reading (there are 4 major pieces) and WHEN, (early or late) in their brain development this exposure takes place. The more frequently those passageways are used to connect useful information, (the phonemic coding, letters, sounds, and their combinations into words) this process links together into a complex neural network from which their ability to read will emerge.

Its all about exposure and repetition.

This process the brain creating this network, from which the process of learning to read comes from can done be over a short period of time (when exposed to the pieces, in a relational way early) , or can take a very long time (when this relational exposure is done later.) This depends upon when in their brain development this 'building project' is being specifically happening.

Children are born, wired for learning -- more so from birth and significantly less by age 5. Ninety percent of a 5 year old child's neural network is formed, and the synaptic activity for mapping learning activity has dropped off significantly. Learning to read later means the brain has to work through this lower synaptic activity channel. It also relates to where the brain decides to put the reading center, and the distance it is, from the language center of the brain.

If the neural network has not been exposed early to the phonemes and their relational symbols and combinations, the resulting network has to go a greater distance to connect the information.

It is therefore a process of exposure and repetition. Early exposure requires less repetition to form the process of reading fluently than late exposure, which will require more exposure and time to end up with a similar result of fluent reading.


Reading can be a playful, fun and engaging process.

What is essential to the late reader, involves the need for them to be inspired (either from outside himself or from within.) The inner drive and motivation which comes through inspiration plays a major role in being a driving force to work through any challenge. When their own personal desire to learn gets fired up, then their motivation to do the work necessary (mentally) that the subconscious brain will connect the dots. Forcing the idea that a child must read by a certain age, expecting them to perform when they just aren't really ready to do so, tends to backfire in the whole process. When they avoid, the subconscious brain will slow the process down, and causes it to take longer.

Are their playtime activities associated with connecting the dots to the pieces of reading, words and sounds together, written word and action together, etc? Most young children today are amused by the TV/Videos that do not offer much, if little of any relational meaning, most of it not at all, which delays this process significantly. (media watching is a passive brain activity, learning to read and reading is an active brain activity.)

Other factors involved was the infant talked to with regular spoken language--(rather than baby talk i.e. mispronunciations because they sound 'cute' -- ask any speech language pathologist and they can tell which families actually speak to their babies, vs those that either don't talk at all or talk incorrect spoken language, they can identify the affects of temporary hearing loss from chronic ear infections.) The vocabulary of the understood language of children is also a base from which the brain uses for phonemic cataloging.

Learning with fewer sensory wired modes, takes twice as long, or worked more frequently compared to the same time one would learning with significantly more sensory modes over a shorter period of time.

As parents, the bottom line is, we must ensure to show joy in the process of learning. Young children can learn to read naturally and easily so long as they are exposed to the linked elements in a fun, engaging and playful way.

Remember a babies work is his play. Engaging the older child in various forms of "play" with the educationally rich materials he is bound to learn to read so long as we don't treat the process as a chore. Realize the subconscious, will resist when forced to perform in a manner it is not ready to.
When the child exhibits his will to tackle a problem he can overcome it -- personal drive and motivation play a significant part in the learning curve of the older learner.

Just like learning to play a musical instrument. The earlier the exposure, physical experience with and the amount of practice with it all affect the individual's ability to learn quickly and achieve mastery.

I like to think of reading as the musical score of our spoken language.

The Best Window of Opportunity..

...for learning to read is ages 0-5 years!

Did you know that:

• Tens of 1,000's of new synapse connections are being formed in a baby's brain every second from Birth through 2-1/2years old (this is when language/speech skills are wired in the brain)
• Babies prefer stimulation over food, even when they're hungry - They want to be stimulated!! (its better if its educational stimulation vs passive forms such TV. It needs to have a meaningful connection that involves the baby as purposeful stimulation)
• Once a baby learns to read his first 50 words (the hardest ones to learn), they learn additional words much faster usually by only being told once or twice they will remember it.
• By age 4 this synaptic activity slows down to thousands per second (still good but significantly less)
• 90% of a child’s language is developed by age 5
• 90% of a child's brain is formed by age 5
• 40% of 8-year-olds in the U.S. cannot read independently
• Only 1 in 8 kids who cannot read at grade level by 1st grade will catch up to grade level in their life
• The earlier a child reads the better he reads…it’s important to start as early as possible(the more second nature reading will be)
• Americans are usually at the bottom of industrialized countries in almost every educational study done

There are ways YOU can take advantage of the early Window of Opportunity

When a child learns how to read early, the ability is incorporated into the brain's developed language center. When reading is learned after age 5, it ends up being stored into a different part of the brain, causing learning to read difficulties because then the "reading" part of the brain and the "language" part of the brain are in separate sections. This makes the brain work harder in order translate to from and from the reading to language centers it has created.

Why not then teach reading before age 4?

There are many who object to early reading instruction. They feel that because if its done a structured format as in the school setting: such as make a child sit still for 30 min a day to "learn to read" will get the teacher and the student nowhere.

Our previous article did emphasize that children should learn before age 5. Obviously, we're not advocating teaching reading as done in a structure setting. Certainly a young child would not gain anything from being taught in a manner inconsistent with the age.

Think of fun ways young children learn. Think about how they learn their native language. Babies do not learn language so formally do they? Rather we expose them to language from birth -- they hear it, they babble and we cheer any sounds they make that we recognize. When we cheer and repeat the sound they make, they try again. It typically takes 12 to 18 months for infants to produce recognizable speech. AND they do understand spoken language much earlier than they can perform it through their own ability to speak it.

If words are shown and incorporated into the language development phase of babies development, we would create a nation of "natural" readers rather than develop reading as a "second language" for the brain to translate. It has been done! Watch this amazing video.

This is not to say that anyone learning to read after age 5 can't. Of course that is simply not true. But consider this: we do know that the older one learns how to read the more difficult the process becomes. The more intensive and consistent the process must be for daily reading to practice and develop that ability. Think of it as an adult learning a second language -- it is much easier if they are in an environment where they hear the foreign language and have to use it daily -- vs -- being in an environment where that new language is rarely used but once a day or once a week such as in a traditional language class in high school or college would be.

A child's environment needs to be rich in the written word to help the brain connect the spoken language to the written one. When done early, reading becomes naturally as easy as speaking the language.

A major set-back for many children is, their good parents in an effort to help them start by teaching them the A-B-C's. Unfortunately they do it with all upper case letters (98% of written words are with lower case letters) and using the letter names instead of the sounds they make. The letter 'G' makes two sounds, "C" makes two sounds. Letter 'a' makes 4 sounds depending upon what consonant or vowel is next to it and so forth.

What typically happens to many children in Kindergarten is they end up having to re-learn the abc's sounds correctly before moving on so they can begin to learn how to read the letters using the correct sounds. This is a very common set back for children in school. Then they become labeled as behind and in need of remediation.

Here are ways to work with a baby to help them learn the language of reading more easily.

• Speak correctly. Do not use baby talk or substitute words. The child may make attempts to speak, and we think their efforts are cute, but when we perpetuate mispronunciations, it makes for more difficulty with reading later. Always, praise and repeat the intended word correctly. They will learn the correct speech patterns better that way.
• Talk to them from birth. Describe all the senses they are experiencing, what they see, touch, taste, and hear. Colors, textures, temperatures, flavors etc. This also builds an enriching language base for them.
• Use lower case letters. To teach young children the A B C's be sure to get lower case letters, write word cards in lower case (use variety, hand written, block letters, print in different fonts from the computer, etc) use magnets on the fridge. Magnadoodle or dry erase boards are also wonderful tools.
• Be sure to model the sounds those letters make. Meaning: avoid using the letter names until well after they understand and can use the letter sounds correctly. i.e. the letter 'g' makes two sounds, g as in good and g as in George. Be aware that vowels make more than just long and short sounds, particularly when paired with other vowels and relative spelling rules. Use or make a chart that illustrates all those sounds/letter combinations. As adults we know these patterns without thinking. Having a chart to refer to helps immensely.
• Reading to the child several times a day. When reading to your child, make sure they can see the words with you and show them by using finger across the page under the words as you read them. Read slowly too. If they know a word, then let them say the word any time it comes up in the reading of the day! Participating in the process is a multi-sensory application that hard wires the brain.
• Make it fun. Play word games, matching, sing nursery rhymes and recite poems and read along books. If they are tired, move on. No one ever learns well when tired or disinterested. Young children have a short attention span. They fill their day with constant moving activity.
• Review in small segments several times a day will do more for them than any one long session will never accomplish.

This information is intended to enlighten you and encourage you on ways to begin. We'll post additional information soon. Enjoy this special time with your baby/toddler child!