Dyslexia is a learning difficulty that primarily affects the development of accurate and fluent reading and spelling. Importantly, it is not a reflection of intelligence, motivation or effort.
Our understanding of dyslexia is changing. A major UK expert consensus published in 2025 emphasised that dyslexia exists on a continuum and that difficulties with phonological processing — recognising and manipulating the sounds within words — are common, but not present in every child with dyslexia.
What Does Genetics Tell Us?
Dyslexia has a significant genetic component. One of the largest genetic studies to date, involving more than one million people, identified 42 genetic regions associated with dyslexia.
There is therefore no single “dyslexia gene”. Instead, many genetic variations appear to contribute small amounts to an individual’s likelihood of experiencing reading difficulties.
What Does Brain Imaging Show?
Reading requires several areas of the brain to work together rapidly, linking visual symbols (letters) with speech sounds and meaning.
Neuroimaging research, including functional MRI (fMRI), has identified differences in the activity and connectivity of these reading and language networks in people with dyslexia.
Perhaps most importantly, the brain’s reading networks can adapt and strengthen in response to learning and targeted intervention.
Studies examining children before and after targeted reading intervention have found changes in brain activation and connectivity alongside improvements in reading. This provides fascinating biological evidence that effective teaching and intervention can influence the neural systems supporting literacy.
Language Matters
Dyslexia isn’t simply about seeing or remembering written words. Spoken language provides the foundation upon which literacy develops.
Phonological awareness — recognising that words can be broken into syllables and individual speech sounds — is particularly important for learning to decode words. Vocabulary, morphology and broader oral-language abilities also contribute to reading comprehension and later literacy development.
This is one reason speech and language therapists can play an important role alongside teachers and specialist literacy professionals.
Strategies for the Classroom
Teachers can support pupils with dyslexia by:
- Explicitly teaching the relationship between sounds and letters.
- Breaking unfamiliar words into syllables and individual speech sounds.
- Teaching new vocabulary before pupils encounter it in complex texts.
- Explicitly teaching prefixes, suffixes and word roots.
- Providing repeated opportunities to practise reading until it becomes more fluent.
- Giving instructions both verbally and visually.
- Reducing unnecessary copying from the board.
- Allowing additional processing and reading time where appropriate.
- Using technology such as text-to-speech and speech-to-text when this removes barriers to learning.
- Continuing to develop a child’s spoken vocabulary and language comprehension alongside their reading.
The message from current research is encouraging: dyslexia has a strong neurobiological and genetic basis, but this does not mean that reading ability is fixed. The brain remains responsive to experience and teaching. Identifying difficulties early and providing systematic, evidence-based literacy and language support can make a significant difference.
References
Holden, C., Kirby, P., Snowling, M. J., Thompson, P. A., & Carroll, J. M. (2025). Towards a consensus for dyslexia practice: Findings of a Delphi study on assessment and identification. Dyslexia, 31, e1800.
Doust, C., Fontanillas, P., Eising, E., et al. (2022). Discovery of 42 genome-wide significant loci associated with dyslexia. Nature Genetics, 54, 1621–1629.
Barquero, L. A., et al. (2023). The neural effects of reading intervention in children with reading difficulties: A systematic review and meta-analysis.
Snowling, M. J., & Hulme, C. (2021). Annual Research Review: Reading disorders revisited – the critical importance of oral language. Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry.