How Brains Respond to Reading

Rejoice, bibliophiles! Recent neuroscience research suggests that reading fiction is more than just enjoyable; it can stimulate the brain in valuable ways and even positively affect a person’s behavior and social cognition. A recent article in the New York Times explains several fascinating phenomena discovered by scientists. 

Interestingly, reading words can activate parts of our brain usually reserved for handing input that our senses gather from the outside world. In one study, simply reading words referring to materials that people detect with their olfactory sense like “cinnamon” caused the areas of the brain that process smell to “light up.” In a different study, subjects saw words associated with smells (like “coffee”) and words associated with objects that have no strong smell (like “key”). Brain scans showed that the olfactory cortex responded only to the words associated with scents. Similarly, reading metaphors that evoke one’s tactile sense (e.g. “his leathery hands”) caused responses in the sensory cortex of test subjects’ brains. “The brain, it seems,” the article concludes, “does not make much of a distinction between reading about an experience and encountering it in real life.”  

Similarly, our brains react to the social situations presented in novels in much the same way they respond to the social situations we encounter in our daily lives. Understanding stories causes people to engage the same skills they use to figure out what makes their friends and family feel certain emotions or behave in a certain way. One study even found that increased exposure to fiction was correlated with better social skills, like empathy and interpersonal understanding. Similar findings emerged in a study of preschool children: Those who had more stories read to them tended to have stronger social skills and a better understanding of the people around them.

Most of us know that reading to young children, or encouraging older ones to read their own books, is valuable for myriad reasons. Neuroscience has just handed us another.

photo from Difei Li

A Resource for Learning Math... And More

Learning mathematics requires that students grasp simple concepts and procedures and then build upon these to understand more complex or abstract material. When students have challenges with learning math in early grades, it makes it difficult for them to jump in, even with strategies and support, to learn higher mathematics as they move into middle school, high school, and beyond.

One tool we often recommend to students who struggle with math is the Khan Academy website. Founded by Sal Khan, a former hedge fund analyst with degrees from MIT and Harvard, the website and the nonprofit organization behind it grew out of videos Khan posted to YouTube in 2006 to help tutor his cousins in math. Now supported by grants from organizations such as Google and the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, Khan Academy offers online tutorials in a wide range of subjects including science and social studies and is now replete with sophisticated interactive features. But the heart of the Khan Academy website is step by step instruction in fundamentals, especially math, that can be accessed by students on their own or in class groups, to fill instructional gaps or build new knowledge.

It's IEP Season Again

For students who receive special education services from their public schools, Spring is IEP (Individual Educational Program) season, the time when school districts focus on reviewing annual goals and progress and putting in place students' IEPs for the next school year. If your student has an upcoming Annual Review, here are some things to keep in mind to help the process along.

If possible, sit down with your child's teacher before the IEP meeting. Get a frank appraisal of how things are going, where your child is doing well and where he is struggling. You want a chance to speak to the teacher without the entire IEP team present and to find out if there are any issues that may come up at the meeting.

• Speak to your child about how the year has been going. What seems to be working well for her? How is she managing socially in her present setting? If your child is pulled out of class for services is that impacting classroom continuity for her?
• Know what you want for the coming year. Is there a particular service that you believe needs to be added for your child? A classroom accommodation? A new or modified goal?
• For high school students, the IEP meeting should include a review of your student's current accumulation of credits towards graduation, as well as what kind of diploma he is on track to receive. You should be aware of whether your child is required to take a foreign language to graduate and understand what it means to be "foreign language exempt."
• Consider bringing your teenager with you; it's his IEP and he will need to be prepared to deal with his learning or other disability by the time he graduates. Clearly, not every student has the maturity or ability to participate in a meeting where his challenges are discussed and schools can often discourage parents from bringing their child, but they cannot exclude students and the IDEA stresses that high school students should be included in meetings where their transition from high school is planned.
• Bring along paper and pen and take notes about who is in attendance and what is said and decided. If it is difficult for you to both take notes and participate in the meeting, you should bring someone with you to be your notetaker. By law, you have the right to bring anyone you wish to the meeting.

Remember that you are an integral member of the IEP team and that you can and should be heard at the meeting.

Study Finds Diagnosis of ADHD Increasing

A new study from Northwestern University finds that the number of U.S. children diagnosed with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) has increased by a staggering 66 percent in 10 years.

The study will be published in the March/April edition of the journal Academic Pediatrics. For the study, researchers analyzed ADHD trends from 2000 to 2010 among children under the age of 18 who were diagnosed and treated by office-based physicians.

According to Northwestern Medicine's Craig Garfield, M.D., first author of the study, increased familiarity with attention-related difficulties may be behind the increase. “ADHD is now a common diagnosis among children and teens. The magnitude and speed of this shift in one decade is likely due to an increased awareness of ADHD, which may have caused more physicians to recognize symptoms and diagnose the disorder.”

Of particular note, the study found that there has been somewhat of a shift away from primary care doctors towards specialists for ongoing management of ADHD symptoms in children. According to Dr. Garfield, "It may be that general pediatricians are shying away from treating patients themselves and instead rely on their specialist colleagues to provide the treatment and management of these medications.”

Six Ways to Prompt Students to Think Critically About Text

Here are a few suggestions of concrete ways to prompt the student(s) in your life to look beyond the surface-level meaning as they think about a text. Even very young readers can take advantage of these ideas with plenty of scaffolding and suggestions during conversations. Allow older readers to ponder and discuss their ideas with less support. Remember that a “text” needn’t always be a novel; it can refer to a poem, short story, article, song, letter, advertisement, picture book…

1. Develop a Metaphor

Encourage students to think of situations that remind them of the text. These can range from personal experiences to world events.

“The story in The Lorax is like what is going on in many rainforests around the world. Trees are being cut down, and species are losing their habitats and being driven to extinction.”


2. Be Philosophical

Prompt students to think about which universal truths or themes are explored in the text.

“Gatsby couldn’t forget about Daisy, the way it is always hard to forget ‘the one that got away.’ He had always been insecure about who he was, and felt he wasn’t good enough for Daisy. Because of this lack of confidence, he arranged his whole life to shape him into the kind of person she could be with.”


3. Get Emotional

Ask students to reflect on the emotions the text made them feel. Be sure to prompt them to pause throughout the reading process so that they can track how their emotions change as the text progresses.

“I felt many conflicting emotions at the end of A Tale of Two Cities. I was touched that Carton would sacrifice himself and pleased that he had found goodness within himself that he didn’t know existed. At the same time, I was very sad that he was going to be executed. Still, his sacrifice meant that Darnay and Lucie would get to be together, which made me happy.”


4. Analyze

Challenge students to consider why did the author/creator made certain choices in writing the book. Consider its format, language, setting, etc.

“At first, the format of The Color Purple made it difficult to read, and all the spelling and grammatical errors made me think that Celie wasn’t very smart. But later, I realized she was actually very wise, and I really liked reading her thoughts in her own words because it seemed so much more authentic.”


5. Find Intertextual Connections

Can students think of books, movies, songs, poems, etc. that bear similarity to the text being studied?

“Aslan is a Christ-like figure in The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe because he allows himself to be killed by the evil witch in order to save Peter, Edmund, Susan, and Lucy. Just like in the Biblical story, he comes back after everyone thinks he is dead and gone forever.”


6. Critique

Ask students whether they think the text was effective. Did it convey the author’s/creator’s point? Might it have been improved?

“The Rosie the Riveter ads are well done because they make women look powerful, which would encourage American women in the 1940s to join the war effort. Her face is tough, but still feminine enough that women would believe that she was similar to them.”

Image used under Creative Commons by Horia Varlan

High (School) Anxiety

Your blogger has had the opportunity recently to visit two local private high schools whose missions are to educate students with learning and related difficulties. Both The Churchill School in Manhattan and the Community School in Teaneck, New Jersey had invited me to speak to parents about the issues addressed in my book Life After High School.

In both schools, parents shared a very palpable concern about how their children would manage the transition from a specialized, supportive high school to post secondary education -- college or another kind of program -- and eventually to adulthood. These parents had all been through the special education process with their children, having emerged with spots in coveted, state approved (and publicly funded) schools where their children are taught in small classes by teachers with expertise in remediating learning difficulties. Many of these parents had provided their children with significant levels of support with tasks like organization, advocacy, and academics, beyond that customary for more typical learners.

The parents that I met at these presentations are far from unique in their concerns. Parenting any child is a complex process, but parenting a child who struggles in school is even more so. So what can parents of teens do now, while their child is still at home, to help foster independence beyond high school? Some helpful steps include:

Help your child understand how he or she learns. By really understanding their strengths and weaknesses and knowing what learning strategies work for them, students will be better able to arrange their academic accomodations and supports and to ask for the right kind of help.

Foster Affinties. Studies have shown that children who build on their interests and who pursue special skills, tend to be more resilient as adults. Students who may struggle with academics can have many areas where they are successful and should have opportunities to pursue their interests -- sports, hobbies, or the arts.

Build Self Advocacy Skill. By the time a student graduates from high school he or she should have attended one or more of the meetings where their IEP is developed, and certainly should have an understanding of the services they receive in school and why they receive them. It is not easy to get a teenager to deal with this aspect of their lives, but it is important to enable them to work towards independence.

Life After High School in Newsday

A special section in yesterday's edition of Long Island, NY newspaper Newsday included an informative article about planning the transition to college for students with learning difficulties, with content informed by Susan Yellin's book (co-authored with Christina Bertsch) Life After High School: A Guide for Students with Disabilities and Their Families. Part two of this useful series is planned for next week.

Susan Yellin, Esq. provides advocacy and college transition planning services at The Yellin Center.