Should we worry if growing up in poverty can lead to smaller white matter in a child’s brain? Does it impact their ability to learn, or even more specifically, their ability to learn how to read?
It seems it might do.
A study called Development of white matter and reading skills found “White matter tissue properties are highly correlated with reading proficiency”.
How? White matter develops through at least two processes:
Myelination: growth of the myelin, a membrane that surrounds axons. This “increases the signal conduction speed of an axon”.
Pruning: removing axons that aren’t necessary to make space for ones that are.
As the authors say, reading “requires efficient communication within a network of visual, auditory, and language brain regions that are separated by many centimeters.” They found that a higher pruning rate at an early age correlated with above-average reading skills.
Why?
Pruning is, in part, a process driven by experience. It doesn’t make white matter smaller but instead makes some pathways stronger than others. For instance, the more language and literacy experiences a child has from birth, the more connective pathways will grow in the child’s white matter for language and literacy. It’s kinda like they become pruned for literacy.
Research tells us kids in poverty “have fewer books in their homes, have fewer books available in the school and classroom library, and live farther from public libraries than do children raised by middle- and upper-income families. Those children are less likely to be read to every day than are children in families with incomes above the poverty line.”
Equally, myelination is determined by genetic and environmental factors.
What are those environmental factors? Things like “less responsive parenting, less stimulating learning environments, higher incidence of maternal depression and stress, lack of access to adequate nutrition, higher incidence of violence, poor housing, dangerous neighbourhoods, and pollution.”
12% of New Zealand’s kids grow up in poverty.
Today’s message from Pluto
“My brain works good; I get to go to cool places and do cool things all the time. Woof!!!”
Something to try that might make a difference
It’s easy to slip into defeatist mode when faced with issues this big.
Experience is a key part of the pruning process, so while some kids might be starting from a smaller base of white matter, you can do things to strengthen the connective pathways.
Remember, the mind is a brain and body system, so
Connect movement with language.
Learn action songs. Dance. Turn stories into dramatic performances. Paint stories. Encourage interaction when you read to them.
Get involved in these things. Talk with the kids about them. Be alert to the pathways you can strengthen by making the experience fun.