Your child hates reading, but is something more really going on?
Note: This is not medical information or advice. The conditions listed here and their symptoms are purely for educational purposes. The terms below are commonly used in schools and IEPs. They are not always the exact DSM labels but are widely recognized by educators, speech-language pathologists, and reading specialists. If you suspect your child might be demonstrating symptoms of these common reading challenges please reach out to your child's teacher, counselor, school literacy officer or pediatrician.
Dyslexia
Dyslexia affects a child’s ability to read words quickly and accurately. Brain imaging studies show that children with dyslexia often have differences in the left hemisphere reading network, especially in areas that link visual word recognition with language, including the temporo-parietal region, occipito-temporal area (visual word form area), and inferior frontal gyrus, which are all involved in recognizing letters and words (Shaywitz et al., 2002; Gabrieli, 2009).
Common symptoms parents can notice:
- Trouble sounding out or reading new words
- Reading is slow or requires a lot of effort
- Spells the same word differently each time
- Avoids reading tasks or shows frustration
- Reverses letters like b and d or p and q after second grade
Developmental Language Disorder (Language-Based Learning Disorder)
This affects understanding and using spoken language. Children may read words accurately but struggle to understand them. Brain regions involved include the superior temporal gyrus and inferior frontal cortex, which support understanding and producing language (Bishop et al., 2017).
Common symptoms parents can notice:
- Trouble following instructions or remembering multi-step directions
- Limited vocabulary compared with peers
- Difficulty explaining ideas clearly
- Understanding what they read is harder than just saying the words
Reading Comprehension Disorder
A child can read the words but struggles to understand or remember what they read. This often overlaps with language weaknesses and involves brain areas for language comprehension and memory, including the temporal and frontal lobes (Systematic Review, 2024).
Common symptoms parents can notice:
- Struggles to summarize a story or explain what happened
- Misses the main idea when reading
- Has trouble answering questions about the text
- Confuses cause and effect in stories
Dysgraphia
Dysgraphia is a learning difficulty that makes it hard for children to express their thoughts clearly in writing. It makes forming letters, spacing words, copying from a board, and even organizing sentences and paragraphs challenging. Children with dysgraphia may spell words correctly when speaking but struggle to spell them on paper, and they often tire quickly from writing tasks. Brain studies show that dysgraphia involves the parietal and frontal lobes, which help with fine motor control and planning, as well as the cerebellum, which coordinates movement (Berninger & Richards, 2010). These differences explain why even very intelligent, motivated children can find writing a slow and exhausting process.
Common symptoms parents can notice:
- Handwriting is messy or hard to read
- Trouble spelling words while writing
- Avoids writing tasks or becomes frustrated easily
- Writing is much harder than speaking
ADHD with Reading Impact
ADHD itself is not a reading disorder, but difficulties with attention, working memory, and self-regulation affect reading. Brain circuits often involved are frontal-striatal networks (Willcutt et al., 2010).
Common symptoms parents can notice:
- Trouble sitting still during reading
- Skips lines, loses place, or forgets what was read
- Reads inconsistently; sometimes focused, sometimes distracted
- Gets tired or frustrated quickly during reading tasks
References
Berninger, V. W., & Richards, T. L. (2010). Inter-relationships among behavioral markers, genes, brain, and treatment in dyslexia and dysgraphia. Mind, Brain, and Education, 4(1), 17–32. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1751-228X.2009.01068.x
Bishop, D. V. M., Snowling, M. J., Thompson, P. A., Greenhalgh, T., Adams, C., Archibald, L., … Westerveld, M. (2017). Phase 2 of CATALISE: A multinational and multidisciplinary Delphi consensus study of problems with language development: Terminology. Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry, 58(10), 1068–1080. https://doi.org/10.1111/jcpp.12721
Gabrieli, J. D. E. (2009). Dyslexia: A new synergy between education and cognitive neuroscience. Science, 325(5938), 280–283. https://doi.org/10.1126/science.1171999
Shaywitz, B. A., Shaywitz, S. E., Pugh, K. R., Fulbright, R. K., Skudlarski, P., Mencl, W. E., … Gore, J. C. (2002). Disruption of posterior brain systems for reading in children with developmental dyslexia. Biological Psychiatry, 52(2), 101–110. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0006-3223(02)01365-3
Systematic Review. (2024). A systematic review of factors that impact reading comprehension in children with developmental language disorder. Journal of Experimental Child Psychology. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/38663332/
Willcutt, E. G., Betjemann, R. S., McGrath, L. M., Chhabildas, N. A., Olson, R. K., DeFries, J. C., & Pennington, B. F. (2010). Etiology and neuropsychology of comorbidity between reading disability and attention‑deficit/hyperactivity disorder: The case for multiple‑deficit models. Cortex, 46(10), 1345–1361. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cortex.2010.06.009