Dyslexia & Me: Mental Health, Reading Anxiety and Reading for Pleasure

For many of us- probably most of us- one of the earliest things we remember doing in a classroom setting learning how to read. It’s elemental in our learning landscape, and almost all of our other skills build on this first foundation. Reading comes to be one of our core learning mechanisms, and it’s unlikely we’ll have ever sat in a lesson that doesn’t have at least some reading element- but what happens when these early reading experiences are less than positive?

When a learner has dyslexia, literacy differences, or even simply has low confidence or less developed reading skills, these early reading experiences in class can become powerful sites of anxiety.  And this can develop into reading aversion, which not only impacts reading done for educational purposes – it can have an impact on whether or not children and young people like to read for pleasure, too.

Being called upon to read out a passage from a textbook in class is something that used to be fairly commonplace in our classrooms- learners would move through a section by taking a few sentences each and reading them aloud, before moving on to the next student in the row. For confident readers or those who don’t have dyslexia or literacy differences, this doesn’t pose much of a problem. But a learner with dyslexia may be sitting in their row anxiously counting down the number of people until it’s their turn to read, and feel humiliated and embarrassed if they read slowly, make mistakes, or come across words that they can’t access yet. The same thing might happen when books or sections of books are set as homework – learners who aren’t confident readers may simply not be able to get through the text task assigned to them, or they may even find that they disengage from it altogether as it represents a site of powerful trauma and difficulty. And all of this can have a profound impact on an individual's mental health, especially when they're young - it can create aversions and trigger points that persist well into adulthood, and can eventually become a lifelong source of anxiety.

Fortunately, schools are on the whole moving away from reading activities where learners are put on the spot in front of their peers, but for many students reading difficulty in an educational setting persists. It can lead to misunderstandings, problems with group work, slower work and slower progress – and that’s before we even explore the emotional impact of having weaker reading skills and struggling with tasks that your peers seem to cope with without issue. And this can develop into a reading aversion that expands past the confines of educational reading and into the reading we do as recreation – for many learners who experience this, it simply becomes a case of ‘why would I want to subject myself to it in my free time, too?’

Reading for pleasure has been proven to help develop skills in learners of all ages. Students with more positive attitudes towards reading are more likely to read at the expected level for their age, and there is a strong amount of correlation between the amount of reading for pleasure that students do and their reading achievement. But it's also thought to develop other, non-reading skills like empathy and understanding too, and make people feel more connected to the communities they’re a part of. Some sources have also found links between reading for pleasure and reducing the symptoms of stress and even depression- but this probably isn't the case if a learner has dyslexia and is struggling emotionally with the act of reading and how much reading they're expected to do. So how do we improve the experience and foster better mental health in learners when it comes to books?

Research from across the board is accumulating that suggests it's not just learners with dyslexia who are pulling away from reading for pleasure. A growing number of children across the board report that they do not read books for pleasure, and between 2000 and 2009, on average across OECD countries the percentage of children who reported reading for enjoyment daily dropped by five percentage points. So where do we go from here- is there anything we can do at a mental health level to improve the act of reading in our classrooms and in our homes?

There will always be stronger readers and those who struggle; those who enjoy it and those who absolutely don't- what matters is linking up the individuals that need it with the right support, methodologies and understanding. And every reader can benefit from the introduction of a few mental health changes that centre on how we approach the act of reading and how we give access to the books they want to read.

How to take a mental-health-forward approach to reading...

In the classroom:

• Don’t put readers on the spot or expect them to read aloud in front of their peers. This can give way to stress and anxiety in readers with less confidence, and put them off the idea of reading in its entirety due to the negative connotations.
• Talk to struggling readers about the nature of the issues they’re facing in an informal way, and make sure you’re not implying that they’re doing anything wrong. Could they have dyslexia or literacy differences that haven’t been identified yet?
• Have a reading support toolbox on-hand to support learners through developing these reading skills - you can find out more about what it's a good idea to keep in these kits right here at SWD.
• Consider implementing assistive tech devices into your in-class reading regime – not only can they help learners who aren’t as confident in their skills or have dyslexia, they can also foster better reading practice and develop independence across the board by supporting on-page recognition with an audio feedback loop.
• Where possible, encourage ‘free choice reading’ – leave learners to pick their own reading materials based on interest, rather than implement a whole class reading book if your curriculum allows. Developing interests is a great way of beating reading aversion, and it also allows learners to feel more independent in their reading activities.
• Listen when learners say that they've had enough. Reading is important, and in-class learning tasks need to be completed, but forcing reading for pleasure without the right support can be exhausting- allow time to decompress too, and investigate whether assistive devices might alleviate some of the pressure.

At Home:

• Try to make sure there’s access at home to a diverse range to reading materials, especially when learners are still developing. Magazines and comics are often just as good at fostering reading skills as novels and textbooks, so let readers lead the way.
• Don’t discourage online reading either – even if children and young people spend time reading articles or comics on their devices- or even reading as part of playing video games- this is still valuable reading practice.
• Where possible, let them see you reading too, and develop a culture of reading in the house. Can you put aside some time every week to focus on reading, either together or separately?
• As is good practice in the classroom, open up the floor to discussions about reading in a way that children and young people won’t feel like they’re being interrogated, or asked to try harder. If they have dyslexia, are there any issues arising with reading that you can support on? And if they’re not diagnosed- is it a possibility?
• Literacy-targeted rewards such as books or book vouchers have been found to be effective in developing reading motivation than rewards that are unrelated to the activity.
• Can you work library sessions into your week? Libraries offer a huge range of books and reading materials in most cases for as little as your transport costs. Having variety and choice is a huge part of fostering reading interest, and can sometimes head off reading aversion at the pass - but always check in if children are comfortable in these reading-focused spaces.
• Assistive tech devices are great ways to create ongoing relationships with reading as not only do they foster independence and support developing readers, but they’re a much more stress-free way of reading on the go. From reading at home to going to the library, in the park or whilst travelling, they allow readers to feel more free in where and how they choose to read, as well as offering a pocket support system for any other reading that they might encounter in their day-to-day.
• Create comfortable reading spaces - don't make reading something that happens at desks and tables, as this might feel overly formal or anxiety-inducing for younger learners.
• Again, assess how much reading children and young people feel comfortable with, and liaise with them. It's all well and good creating a pro-reading home, but feeling a similar academic pressure to read at home as they may feel in school can create a lot of anxiety. Incentivise, don't force the act of reading, and listen when learners say that they've had enough.