After many years of research on how the human brain learns to read, I came to an unsettlingly simple conclusion: We humans were never born to read.

Maryanne Wolf

Categorized in : Never Brain Simple Research

After we become literate, we literally 'think differently' about language: images of brain activation between literate and nonliterate humans bear this out.

become think language brain

As work in neurosciences indicates, the acquisition of literacy necessitated a new circuit in our species' brain more than 6,000 years ago. That circuit evolved from a very simple mechanism for decoding basic information, like the number of goats in one's herd, to the present, highly elaborated reading brain.

reading simple brain work

We know from research that the reading circuit is not given to human beings through a genetic blueprint like vision or language; it needs an environment to develop. Further, it will adapt to that environment's requirements - from different writing systems to the characteristics of whatever medium is used.

vision language research reading

I am an educator and neuroscientist who studies how the brain learns to read and what happens when a young brain can't learn to read easily, as in the childhood learning challenge, developmental dyslexia.

i-am childhood learning brain

No one can ever prepare a parent for two things: the immeasurable love that comes with having a child; and the sorrow and confusion that comes when your child appears to learn in a different way from other children.

child parent love children