Reading enhances the intellectual progress of children

The benefits of reading for children, they are especially noticeable in the development of their learning, thanks to the positive influence of reading on the plasticity of their brain. Reading enhances the intellectual progress of children on several fronts and their benefits are noticed and enhanced over time.

Spoken language is a natural biological form of communication that dates back to symbolic language more than 1.8 million years ago. There is even a critical age at which the brain is optimized for learning.

Reading, an invention of 6,000 years ago

Reading, on the other hand, is an invention of only 6,000 years. For this reason, the human cognitive system has evolved and has adapted over the years to perfect reading skills. This means that a biological inclination towards reading as it occurs towards speech is not naturally achieved. Therefore, the more we read, the more we polish this skill.


It is common sense to think that practice makes us better in skills, the interesting thing is to know that, in this case, this improvement is due to changes in brain plasticity and even in the density of gray matter.

The great benefits of reading for children

1. Greater density in gray matter. A study published in the journal of Neuroscientific Cognitive Development in 2013, it was revealed that those children with 12 years of age who had greater and better reading skills, not only obtained high scores in the IQ test in reading ability (CIHL), but also improved their CIHL over the years and also showed a greater density in gray matter. in the left region of the pre-motor cortex. The same applied in those children with low scores in CIHL. Over the years, their score was impaired and they showed a significantly lower density of gray matter in the pre-motor cortex.


2. Better creative thinking. The benefits of reading are not only seen in an improvement in this ability. Last year scientists in the United Kingdom showed a strong association between creative thinking and the CIHL. In this study, they controlled the variable of the Global Intellectual Coefficient Index (ICg). His theory is that reading facilitates and promotes new associations between known ideas and concepts and the constructive imagination.

3. Greater pace of learning. Another group of scientists from this same country has shown that children who read for pleasure show a higher rate of learning. They found that those children who read frequently for pleasure at the age of 10 and then read at least once a week at the age of 16, obtained superior intellectual progress in both vocabulary, spelling and mathematics. It is only to hope for a link between reading for pleasure and a greater development in vocabulary.


4. Mathematical progress. But the link between reading and mathematical progress is surprising. Reading not only teaches new vocabulary but helps to understand and absorb new information and concepts. Reading for pleasure also promotes a self-sufficient approach to learning in general.

5. Better linguistic ability. Being exposed to written texts by reading them explains the variation in oral linguistic ability in children in preschool by 12%, in primary school children by 13%, in children of ESO by 19%, by 30% % in Baccalaureate and 34% at University level. There is also an association between academic success and reading frequency.

Maite Balda Aspiazu. Psychologist and Master in Cognitive Neurosciences

More information in the book:
How to make children readers. Carmen lomas Pastor. Ed. Word.

Video: 9 Proofs You Can Increase Your Brain Power


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