Reading in the brain and dyslexia

Dr Anna J. Wilson, Seabrook McKenzie Centre

Why is learning to read so hard for children when learning to speak is easy? Our brains have had hundreds of millennia to develop areas specialised for oral language, but reading is a recent cultural invention; only 5,000 years old. Several decades of brain imaging research have now shown us that learning to read works by effortful repurposing of brain areas specialised for visual object recognition, and connecting these areas to existing oral language networks. This research helps explain not only why structured literacy is the best teaching method for all children, but also the many ways in which learning to read can go wrong in dyslexia. International research on dyslexia and the brain is continuing to shed light on different subtypes of dyslexia and provide us new ideas of how to support children who are struggling.

Seabrook-McKenzie Centre is a Charitable Trust. We provide thorough and comprehensive assessment and assistance for people with specific learning disabilities, including dyslexia, dysgraphia and dyscalculia. Our team of registered psychologists, assessors, and specialist teachers who together provide a solution and hope for those with specific learning difficulties.

 Dr Anna Wilson is one of our assessment team leaders, and leader of our teaching team. She is a registered educational psychologist who originally trained in cognitive neuroscience at the University of Oregon, USA. She has worked in many roles; including teaching educational neuroscience and interventions at the University of Canterbury, designing software for remediation of dyscalculia and participating in international research on dyscalculia in Paris, France with Stanislas Dehaene (author of Reading in the Brain), and most recently, as a psychologist for the Learning Support team at the Ministry of Education.

Free parking is available at the venue, and there is a café onsite. The venue is wheelchair accessible.