Why the dyslexic brain is misunderstood

How dyslexia is a differently organized brain. Subscribe and turn on notifications 🔔 so you don’t miss any videos: The brain isn’t naturally wired to read. It’s a task that requires explicit instruction for our brains to activate different areas, including those that control vision, sound, and meaning. For fluent readers, the result is a complicated reading circuit — connected by neural pathways of white matter — to allow us to process words within milliseconds. But this reading circuit looks different for people with dyslexia. For decades, the research was largely focused on how this different brain organization often resulted in delays and difficulty in areas like reading, spelling, and grammar. And today, there continues to be stigma and misconceptions around a dyslexia diagnosis. But the challenges of dyslexia often overshadow another part of the picture. Research has repeatedly shown dyslexia is also associated with specific cognitive strengths. These include visuo-spatial processing, narrative memory, problem-solving, and reasoning. While there is still a lot to learn about these advantages and how they work, in the piece above we unpack what we know about dyslexia, and what many studies have concluded about these strengths. This perspective could be critical — not just for the roughly 20 percent of people who have dyslexia — but for the colleagues, peers, and educators who can better empower dyslexic thinking and better understand neurodiversity. SOURCES: On the reading brain: Proust and the Squid: Studies: “Explorative bias”: Impossible figures: // Peripheral vision: // Blurred images: ADDITIONAL READING: The Dyslexic Advantage: Amazing Dyslexics: Overcoming Dyslexia: #:~:text=Dyslexia affects 20 percent of,brightest children struggle to read. Note: The headline on this piece has been updated. Previous headline: The benefits of dyslexic thinking Make sure you never miss behind-the-scenes content in the Vox Video newsletter, sign up here: is a news website that helps you cut through the noise and understand what’s really driving the events in the headlines. Check out Support Vox’s reporting with a one-time or recurring contribution: Shop the Vox merch store: Watch our full video catalog: Follow Vox on Facebook: Follow Vox on Twitter: Follow Vox on TikTok: @voxdotcom