Could Reading Protect Against the Forgetfulness of Dementia?

For the last 12 years, I have shared many posts about early literacy from birth to adulthood. But this is the first post that I have written that considers the benefits of reading for the possible prevention of dementia. Garry Stix, Senior Editor of Scientific American, has shared in a recent article in the publication Scientific American, a fascinating study which found the very act of reading or writing (apart from any formal education), may help protect against memory loss. 

The article discussed research evaluations of the elderly in the Washington Heights neighbourhood of Manhattan New York. The study revealed that reading or writing - outside formal education - might possibly protect against the forgetfulness of dementia. As one of the senior authors writes:

“The people who were illiterate in the study developed dementia at an earlier age than people who were literate in the study.”

The team of researchers responsible for the study, were largely from Columbia University’s Vagelos College of Physicians and Surgeons. The team selected 983 people with four years or less of schooling who were part of the Washington Heights Aging Project. They found that 35% of the illiterate group had dementia when the study began, compared to only 18% of people who were literate. The findings were based on multiple follow-ups of their subjects, with average interval of four years over a period of up to 23 years. In a recent follow up study they once again identified a similar finding.

The researchers hypothesize that perhaps, helping people to read might help to change or lower the risk of dementia. The first author Miguel Arce Rentería, speculated:

“Could we change and lower that dementia risk by intervening at midlife or later life by helping people to learn to read and write?”

Clearly, much more research is needed before drawing more definite conclusions, but it's an interesting are of inquiry as we see rates of Dementia rising.

You can read the Gary Stix's article HERE.

Brain Research Shows Reading Literature Matters! Some Practical Implications

I've written before about the amazing capabilities of the brain, in particular, the capacity that the brain of the young child has to learn and change rapidly in the first years of life (here). A number of research projects have shown that babies and the very young can know, observe, imagine, explore and learn more than we previously thought possible. In a second post (here) I explored the place of 'deep practice' in learning and the increased plasticity that we now know the brain possesses. In this post I want to comment on a third area of inquiry that has demonstrated some amazing new connections between 'real life' experiences and those encountered via the experiences of human intellectual activities like reading.




Have you ever heard people say things like:

"I was lost in the book"
"I was so moved by that book I couldn't talk about it"
"After finishing the book I simply sat gripping it lost in a moment of devastating pain"
"Books are my escape into a world that is less painful than my everyday life"
"I hated that character"
"The book changed my life"

For many of us, the experience of literature can have quite profound impacts on us. Recent neuroscience research is beginning to give us some sense of why this might be so. This research has used MRI brain scans to help us understand the way the brain reacts when the subjects read certain things. Of particular interest has been what happens to brain activity when we read about experiences, compared to how it reacts when we have firsthand experiences. In short, the weight of various projects suggests that the brain doesn't behave that differently whether we read about experiences, or actually have real life experience. Whether read, or experienced, the same regions of the brain appear to be stimulated. Annie Paul wrote an excellent excellent overview and introduction to this area a couple of years ago (HERE).

In varied research projects brain scans are revealing much about brain activity as we read texts with detailed description, evocative metaphor and event emotional exchanges between characters. Just as readers have experienced while reading, science is showing how stories stimulate the brain and can even change how we act in life.

It isn't a new concept that the language regions of the brain like Broca’s and Wernicke’s are involved in the way the brain interprets written words. Research now shows that narrative activates many other parts of our brains as well. The experience of reading can feel as if it is real life. For example, experiments have shown that words like “lavender,” “cinnamon” and “soap” don't just elicit responses from the language-processing areas of our brains, they also elicit those dealing with smell.

Other research has shown that reading tastes and topics impact on how readers self-identify. For example people who read the Harry Potter self-identify with wizards, while those who read Stephanie Meyers 'Twilight' vampire themed fantasy romance novels self-identify as vampires.

Studies on the psychology of fiction increasingly provide the evidence for why we often experience deeply emotional experiences with books. Books influence our emotions and ideas and in fact can change us! It's worth thinking about what we read, as well as what our children read (and as an aside, what they watch).

Novelist and professor of cognitive psychology at the University of Toronto Keith Oatley, suggests that reading can produce vivid simulations of reality. Rich descriptions, emotionally gripping texts and vivid human encounters offer a type of passage into the real world. Fiction he suggests offers a rich replica of life! You can read some of his work HERE.

Applying this research

Most teachers of literature and avid readers will tell you that this all makes sense to them and matches their experiences. But it does underline a few basic things that teachers and parents should note:

1. Reading fiction matters and it must NOT be neglected
2. Variety in fiction is important for children as they learn about their world and themselves
3. Teachers and parents should give attention to trying to connect children to varied and good literature.
4. Persist in trying to connect our children with special books

Some Practical applications

1. Work hard to connect children with varied books that they will enjoy  2. Help children to manage their time so that they have time to read - this might require us to restrict screen time for activities those activities that offer only limited reading opportunities.
3. Provide opportunities for children to experience all forms of literature (novels, plays, poetry as well as film)
4. Show interest in the things children read - talk to them about their reading, ask them to share what they are reading and why, engage with them concerning the content of their reading and their interests.
5. Encourage opportunities for children to share their reading interests - try discussion groups, one-on-one reading conferences, 'dining room table' discussions with small groups of students (as developed by Nancie Atwell).
6. Help children to become writers as well - reading feeds writing and writing feeds reading. Get children excited about both by allowing them to take greater control and by supporting them at every step. Encourage them to write for real readers and try to establish ways for others to read their writing as well.

Six Marks of a Great Teacher

Memories of great teachers

Photo courtesy Wiki Commons

Have you ever wondered what makes a great teacher? Have you or your children had some great teachers? I can think of two or three teachers who made a difference to my life. My memories of them are rich but the methods they used to engage me were very simple (and in some cases unconventional). All had a deep commitment to their teaching and empathy for their students. They wanted me to learn and saw potential within me that other teachers weren't able to see. For example, my 4th grade teacher Mr Campbell when confronted with a new aquarium in his classroom turned to me (a difficult and disinterested student) one day and said, "I'd like you to find out all that you can about tropical fish". He gave me a book and sent me off to find out about them and how to care for them. Several weeks later he asked me to present a mini-lesson to the class on tropical fish.  I was now the school expert on tropical fish! This was a critical turning point for me in this classroom.

One of my Year 11 teachers, Mr Hubbard, simply showed me that geography could be exciting by sharing his love of the subject and something of his life with a small group of senior students who he seemed to care for. He made it interesting by setting tasks that made us explore, solve problems and work collaboratively with others. And all the while he showed genuine interest in our lives.

Photo courtesy Wiki Commons

None of my best teachers used startling methods, but all showed an ability to see some potential in me and to try to reach and engage me. They also tried to understand me relationally, treating me with respect, believing in me and somehow, helping me to believe in myself. That's the art of good teaching.

Research on Great Teachers

There have been many attempts to describe what makes an excellent teacher, but many end up being descriptions that are set against the question what makes a bad teacher. I don't find this is helpful. I was part of a research team in 2003-2005 that considered the question 'what are the characteristics of an effective teacher'? But we tried to do this in a positive way. That is, we spent a lot of time doing research in schools in order to understand what successful teachers (based on student results) did that made them effective. The final report for the project was called 'In Teachers’ Hands: Effective: Literacy Teaching Practices in the Early Years of Schooling' (You can download the full report from my website HERE).

Our study used existing national Australian data on school and class performance to identify classrooms where students made significantly greater progress than could be expected. That is, we considered performance based on the school's previous performance and considered socio-demographic factors that traditionally affect student performance (e.g. parent education, poverty etc). In simple terms, we chose classrooms that out performed other like schools and classrooms. We didn't compare results across varied contexts; instead we chose classrooms that stood out compared to like classrooms demographically.

We then visited the schools across Australia and spent time talking with the teacher and students and observing classroom practice. We also videotaped the teachers’ literacy teaching practices and analysed them to try to identify common factors that seemed to be key factors for the teachers. I was involved in classroom observations as was every member of the research team. The teachers we observed were varied in personality, age and style. But as we carefully analysed our data, including numerous hours of videotapes, we found that there were six key dimensions to the behaviour and practices we observed in all effective teachers. That is, they displayed specific characteristics in their pedagogy in relation to ‘participation’, ‘knowledge’, ‘orchestration’, ‘support’, ‘differentiation’ and ‘respect’.

1. Participation - Effective teachers managed to organise their classrooms well (resources, planning etc) and motivated students to take part in lessons. They got their attention, engaged them, stimulated interest, enabled them to gain pleasure from learning; and they did this often.

2. Knowledge - The teachers had strong knowledge of literacy and were able to teach significant skills and concepts, using the class environment (including resources) to explain, create a sense of purpose, model, and often offer language to make sense of new knowledge.

3. Orchestration - The best teachers orchestrated their classrooms like a good conductor. They kept things moving, showed great awareness of what was going on ('eyes in the back of the head'), built in some structure and yet could be flexible. They also managed the pace of the lesson and were excellent at lesson transitions.

4. Support - Effective teachers also offered great support for learners and offered scaffolding. They offered good feedback, were responsive to needs and problems and were explicit in their explanations and instructions. They were also persistent in moving learning forward. There was pace to instruction.

5. Differentiation - Another key quality was their ability to offer differentiated opportunities for all learners that offered challenge, individual opportunities for learning and growth, variation in learning and connection to their lives and their needs. The classrooms were inclusive of all learners not just some.

6. Respect - Great teachers also showed great respect for their students, which seemed to flow on to students showing respect for one another. In their classrooms we saw much warmth and rapport. Students also demonstrated good skills as class citizens and had a degree of independence as learners as they worked together.

What this research project demonstrated for me is that often conversations about what makes a good or bad teacher focus on the wrong things. We need to spend less time analysing the curriculum methods that our teacher use and more time making sure that they demonstrate the six key dimensions discussed above.

If you'd like to see what some of this teacher behaviour looks like you can view some videos of the teachers in action on the 'In Teachers' Hands' website HERE