This study, published in the January 23rd issue of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, is different. And exciting. It does more than confirm what we already know about how the brains of school-age children, adolescents, and adults with dyslexia function during reading tasks. It allows us to think about young children who are not yet reading and who are “at risk” for reading problems by virtue of their having a close family member with dyslexia.

We can’t yet say with certainty whether the physiological changes we see in older individuals with dyslexia are there from early childhood or whether they emerge over time as the dyslexic brain is confronted with having to learn to reading. But what we can say from this study is that:

• Children in the at-risk group were found to have reduced brain activity in two key brain areas that are engaged in reading (compared to peers of similar ages and IQ who did not have family members with dyslexia).
• At-risk pre-reading children did not show increases in activity in key brain regions previously linked to dyslexia.

What does this mean for parents and early childhood educators? No, we’re not ready to recommend neuroimaging studies as a prerequisite for enrollment in preschool! But we are able to say with confidence that a family history of dyslexia (and likely other specific learning disabilities) is good reason to be vigilant for early warning signs of LD and to be proactive in providing young children opportunities to learn, explore and practice the foundational skills that underlie reading.
 
This study provided hard evidence that “earlier is better” when it comes to recognizing (and maybe even circumventing) early risk for struggle with learning to read.