How Strong Start Helps Build the Reading Brain

Literacy is the key to success, empowering the imagination and paving the way for bright futures. Literacy allows us to make sense of what we see, hear, and read; for many, it’s an integral part of our lives. But did you know that humans were not meant to read?

Humans have been speaking for more than 50 thousand years, but reading and writing for only around 5,000 years. We are born with brains ready to develop oral language and visual skills, allowing us to recognize speech sounds, faces, and objects, but we are not born with an area of the brain that recognizes words. When we learn to read, we create a new part of the brain called the Letterbox. This fascinating part of our brain can even be seen in brain scans!

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