Dr Rebecca Gordon on dyslexia and how the brain processes written language

What initially inspired you to go into psychology and specialise in dyslexia?

I was drawn to psychology because I was interested in how we might be able to explain human behaviour generally, but when I was an MSc student I quickly became interested in specific aspects of brain function and how atypicalities can manifest in surprising ways.

Initially, I was interested mainly in how frontal lobe function develops, and the importance of this brain region in what is known as executive function. This describes fundamental abilities such as working memory (processing and storing information simultaneously), inhibitory control (stopping and thinking before acting) and cognitive flexibility (switching attention between tasks); and also, higher-order abilities such as planning, decision-making, and prioritisation. I went on to do my PhD in executive function investigating how it might explain learning outcomes in primary school children. Later I became aware that executive functions are impaired in people with dyslexia and so began to focus on investigating why problems with developing reading and spelling skills might be linked to these seemingly unconnected cognitive functions.

Specifically, I am interested in how executive function deficits might explain delayed literacy development. I am also interested in how this cognitive profile might lead to challenges in adulthood, once literacy has been improved through remediation, yet problems with planning, working memory etc. remain.

How does dyslexia impact how the brain processes written language?

The short answer is that we don’t know. There are several theories and the most prevalent and robust is that people with dyslexia have problems with phonological processing; that is difficulty in recognising speech sounds and relating them to letters, syllables and whole words. However, such a difficulty does not explain the aforementioned broader cognitive difficulties. We know that training in letter sounds, and linking letters and phonemes is probably the most effective intervention for those with dyslexia, and that it can improve reading and spelling to age-appropriate levels, but this does not explain why dyslexia occurs. This is a contentious area, and many would disagree with my view that we need to look at the broader cognitive deficits to understand why some people (approximately 10% of the population) struggle to acquire literacy skills and others do not. Given that reading and spelling were invented by humans approximately 5000 years ago (far too recent to be an evolutionary development), and that maybe 100 years ago the majority of people could not read or write, why would some people find it so difficult to learn to read while the majority of people are able to acquire this skill with very little effort?

How does dyslexia affect executive function, and what are the implications for academic performance in school and in a work environment later in life?

There is a great deal of evidence that children with dyslexia struggle with working memory, inhibitory control and cognitive flexibility. This means they are less able to follow detailed instructions, pausing to think so that appropriate actions can be selected for specific tasks, switch attention between tasks, plan their actions, and many other higher-order abilities. This means that, along with falling behind due to problems with literacy, they also appear disorganised and distracted compared to their typically developing peers. In addition, there is a considerable amount of evidence that, even when reading a spelling are improved through interventions, and adults leave school with adequate literacy, they still struggle with skills that rely on executive function. This means they find it difficult to plan their working day, prioritise tasks, remember future actions, be efficient timekeepers and many other activities that are important in day-to-day life. It is not surprising then that adults with dyslexia, generally speaking, advance more slowly in their careers and struggle in higher education. More alarmingly, research shows that dyslexic adults are often reluctant to disclose their diagnosis to employees, therefore prohibiting them from receiving any support that might be available to them from understanding employers.

You are an advocate for including educational neuroscience into teacher training - what might this look like in practice? What are the areas of educational neuroscience that you feel are the most important that educators know and understand?

I think there is huge benefit in ensuring that teachers understand the key cognitive mechanisms involved in the learning process, how these manifest in terms of learning behaviours, and what factors might affect these abilities. The Early Career Framework (ECF), developed in 2019, has gone some way to provide this understanding, but I believe there is more to be done. The ECF is currently being revised and integrated with Initial teacher Training (ITT), and I am supporting the IOE ECF team in looking at how much more training they can incorporate in this next iteration; however, it will be a work in progress of course. The main areas I think would be beneficial for teachers are memory, attention, executive function, literacy and numeracy development, and how children develop understanding of scientific concepts (e.g. weight, mass, gravity). Not only will this add value to teaching practice, it will help teachers understand why some children might be struggling with certain tasks.

What future research directions do you see as most promising for improving our understanding and support of individuals with dyslexia?

I think the early identification work is the most important. How we might do this is in its infancy and many dyslexia researchers might argue that you can never really know which children will struggle to learn to read until they struggle to learn to read. I think a combination of developing ways to identify children at risk of dyslexia, whilst simultaneously enhancing existing intervention programmes is the most promising approach with children. However, we cannot ignore the fact that the broader cognitive deficits will persist into adulthood. To address this, we need awareness in the workplace so that support and reasonable adjustments can be made for dyslexic adults. In line with this, we need to remove any stigma there might be about disclosing a dyslexia diagnosis. We know that dyslexia is not related to intelligence yet, for some, this myth persists. Dyslexia charities and organisations go a long way in addressing this issue, and I think that the more we understand about why dyslexia occurs, the better able we will be to develop a positive and supportive world for people with dyslexia.