Technolandy

Day 118 (of 2025/26) Reading Goals? Are you factoring in the way the brain processes text? Some thoughts for reading improvement…

What are your reading goals? Are they specific enough – or are they hoping that more of the same will work out… Science of Reading has some great strategies for explicit teaching, but while we need to Learn to Read so that we can Read to Learn – reading skills only enrich themselves when there is a joy added to it – when people like to read, they read more… but not everyone finds reading enjoyable – or easy… ever…

Are you universally applying strategies that work for dyslexic readers Dyslexia is too often a factor given a name, but not much support beyond the following:

How are you differentiating supports and instruction for those who visualize words/sentences/ideas and those who only have text interface in the brain… we are doing a better job understanding the brain works in a couple of ways for readers, but that makes me wonder if there are eve more… someone’s gotta see colours when they process words – I know I can hear the voices of the characters AND the author…

But I’m also aware that not everyone reads the same way: what happens when the brain doesn’t translate text into images? https://apple.news/AFX-9WQgYRDSfEk69kixnag  Research has linked the ability to visualize to a bewildering variety of human traits—how we experience trauma, hold grudges, and, above all, remember our lives.  – from this article: He knew, of course, that people talked about “picturing” or “visualizing,” but he had always taken this to be just a metaphorical way of saying “thinking.” Now it appeared that, in some incomprehensible sense, people meant these words literally.

We are finally (this does not have a long tradition…) recognizing that some non-readers don’t like reading because it does not fire the synapses the same way it does for others (and yes, completely guilty early in my career of using ‘creating a movie in your mind’ as a reason why some writing was absolutely beautiful.) 

We also acknowledge dyslexia as an issue, but honestly do very little about it beyond some ‘usual’ tricks and tropes (blue paper, blue lenses, comic sans, audiobook with physical book, physical letters such as sand, text to speech, chunking text, line by line reading tools, etc) and I know from home life, it don’t matter how many rewards we provide – reading sucks and it’s just not worth the frustration to get through the sentence (let alone the paragraph nor the text)…. Ahhh, graphic novels though…. Such an ease on the brain to process reading and allow the brain to synthesize the message instead (shoutout to the Lord of the Flies graphic novels > dated language in text. Especially since graphic novels (aka comic books) reduce cognitive translation load for: aphantasia readers, dyslexic readers, readers with BVD, readers without internal narration, etc… put more comics into more hands!

How much librarian time does your school have? I am serious when I propose more librarian time might just be one of the missing pillars when we are promoting reading… worried about young readers picking up GenderQueer? That’s what a librarian is there for – to ensure the right book is with the right reader at the right time… and then to also help readers overcome some notable (and not often noted) reading challenges – as listed below. But also a librarian who can ask things different…. 

Instead of:

“Why don’t you like reading?”

It becomes:

“What is reading like inside your head?”

Book availability? Until I see a reddit forum creating fan fiction for the various black and white copies of Fountas & Pinnell readers… we need more copies of Dogman available. And other books. Stymied? Frustrated because Libby’s waitlist predicts six weeks till you get the book you’re actually motivated to read (and when it says it’s ready you wonder why you ever wanted such a tome?) Wish that there were an online library (for us, ‘cuz we’re an online school)… educators should check out RallyReader – for the next couple of years they are trying an experiment to get more virtual books in readers hands. The catch: only an iOS app… and somewhat limited to the ‘big name’ publishers… for now… But a librarian and unlimited copies of most books?!? (Some of the more controversial books are not on the ready list – though they could be since an educator – or librarian- could be needed to approve the book before it is read – so no, GenderQueer’s greatness *it is fabulous, don’t let the hyped pages distract you* won’t be unleashed onto an unsuspecting grade 2 audience… ) 

******

I’m going to be proposing that for next year, our online school adds a reading goal, but that it creates an inventory for the type of reading-processing our brains do (our district reading coach is gonna love to hate this… or hate that they love it…):

Typical (words create images and movies in the mind)

Dyslexia (words running off the page is only one symptom)

Aphantasia (no images from words – or anything)

I cheekily pose “what if reading triggers smells and colours” – but in digging, has an actual neurological phenomenon:
Synesthesia – whereby a standard black-and-white worksheet or reading may be physically repulsive or overstimulating for some readers…

Ticker-tape Synesthesia: Some people see a moving “subtitle” of words in their mind when people speak, which can be an advantage for some but a massive cognitive distraction for others when trying to focus on a single physical page. Hmmm might be a reason why more and more have closed captioning on while watching visual media…

Grapheme-Color Synesthesia: Readers see specific letters or numbers as inherently colored (e.g., “A” is always red). If a publisher uses a different color for “A” in a textbook, it can cause a “Stroop effect” where the brain literally stutters over the visual mismatch.

Lexical-Gustatory Synesthesia: Certain words trigger involuntary tastes or textures. Imagine trying to finish a chapter when every time you read the word “gate,” you taste pencil lead or wet cardboard.

Anauralia – the minds silent ear – some people hear a clear narrators voice (me) others have zero internal sound. So what happens when we are teaching (and expecting) students to identify a sound/voice they literally cannot hear… another reason why a layered audiobook + print book can be a lifeline into enjoying reading.

Binocular Vision Dysfunction – often misdiagnosed as dyslexia, it’s a physical mismatch in how the eyes send images to the brain – so no amount of hurtful meeting can fix the physical eye to brain alignment – another time the librarian can be helpful by spotting the kid rubbing their eyes after three sentences… 

Is your brain a movie theatre? A silent teleprompter? A gourmet kitchen? I ponder that once we stop looking at the same ‘page’ in our heads, we can finally stop treating reading like a one-size-fits-all factory both in terms of its instruction… it’s practice… and how we assess it.

Should we look for a quick “Neuro-Reading Survey” template to gather these processing styles from our students to prove that these differences actually exist in our specific learning environment?

Hmmmm The “How My Brain Reads” Inventory (don’t worry – I’ll have smarter people than me edit and refine this)

1. The Internal Movie Screen (Visual Imagery)

• Movie Theatre: When I read, I see clear, vivid pictures or a movie playing in my head.
• The Blueprint: I don’t see movies, but I have a strong “sense” of where things are in a room or how a character looks.
• The Text Interface (Aphantasia): I see only the words on the page. I don’t “see” anything in my mind’s eye when I read. 

2. The Inner Soundtrack (Auditory Processing)

• The Narrator: I hear a voice (mine or someone else’s) reading the words aloud in my head.
• Multi-Voice Casting: I hear different “voices” for different characters as I read.
• The Silent Page (Anauralia): My mind is completely silent. I understand the words, but there is no “sound” attached to them. 

3. The Sensory “Distractions” (Synesthesia & Processing)

• The Gourmet Kitchen (Lexical-Gustatory): Do certain words or sentences trigger a specific taste or texture in your mouth?
• The Neon Sign (Grapheme-Color): Do letters or numbers always appear as specific colours, even if they are printed in black ink?
• The Ticker-Tape: When people talk, do you see “subtitles” of their words scrolling through your mind? 

4. The Physical Page Experience

• The Vibrating Page: Do the words ever seem to move, “shake,” or have shadows behind them?
• The Puzzle Pieces: Do you find yourself re-reading the same sentence three times because your brain didn’t “click” the meaning the first time? 

Not all brains read the same. And for some, this might explain why reading never felt natural. 

So maybe our reading goals shouldn’t be one-size-fits-all either. Maybe the next frontier of reading improvement isn’t harder texts for the reader.

It’s deeper understanding of the reader.