On the Mind of a Child: A Conversation with Sally Shaywitz

Author: D'Arcangelo, M.
Publisher: Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development (ASCD)
Publication Date: 2003, April
Journal: Educational Leadership
Journal Volume: 60(7)
Pages: 6-10
Full text available online at: http://www.ascd.org/publications/educational_leadership/apr03/vol60/num07/On_the_Mind_of_a_Child%40_A_Conversation_with_Sally_Shaywitz.aspx

Abstract (written by WestEd)

Sally Shaywitz, a pediatrician, neuroscientist, and member of the National Reading Panel, is interviewed about how to prevent early learning difficulties in young children. Rebuilding neural pathways in 3rd- or 4th-grade students with reading problems is more difficult than building the right connections to print in the first place, during the ages four to six.

Shaywitz explains that three areas on the left side of the brain are devoted to language processing: one for spoken language articulation, one for analyzing and sounding out word parts, and one region where word and sound information is integrated so the reader recognizes and reads words instantly (often called the visual word form area). Struggling readers can have processing problems in the latter two regions in the back of the brain (brain scans show significant underactivation). These readers try to compensate by activating other areas of the brain. "This is often what a child is doing when he or she is subvocalizing....Because there is disruption in the back of the brain, the child is using the systems in the front of the brain to try to read. These are the systems responsible for articulation and pronouncing letter sounds," says Shaywitz. Other compensation can occur, too, as when other areas of the brain are used instead of the visual word form area. "This allows them to read slowly but not automatically. They read with great effort."

The goal is to be an automatic, fluent reader, according to Shaywitz. The automatic reader develops a neural model of a word, or an exact replica of how a word is pronounced and spelled, and what it means. This automaticity frees the reader to concentrate on the meaning of the text. To build a good foundation early, very young children should have fun with language and attend to rhyme and alliteration. School-age children should practice "repeated oral reading with feedback and kind correction" to "connect how the word is spelled, how it's pronounced, and what it means."

While data show that 30 to 40 percent of children experience difficulty in learning to read, Shaywitz believes that given enough proper support and instruction, "all but a very few children will learn how to read."