Dyslexia researcher warns against waiting for children to ‘grow out of’ reading difficulties

Héctor Ruiz Martín says reading must be explicitly taught and urges parents and teachers to seek support at the first signs of difficulty, rather than treating dyslexia as a reflection of intelligence.

October is dyslexia awareness month, and Héctor Ruiz Martín says it is a timely reminder that many families still misunderstand what reading difficulties actually are. In an interview with El País, the cognitive psychology researcher argued that one of the most damaging assumptions is the belief that learning to read happens naturally, in the same way as learning to speak.

Ruiz Martín, who is involved in a project aimed at bringing scientific evidence into classrooms, said dyslexia is a specific difficulty with reading, especially in translating written letters into the sounds they represent. That can affect accuracy, speed and understanding, but it is not a measure of intelligence. He noted that a child may struggle to decode a text on the page while understanding it perfectly when it is read aloud.

The researcher warned that children often internalise reading problems as a sign that they are less capable than their peers, which can harm both confidence and motivation. He said parents and teachers should not assume a child will simply catch up with age. Instead, he advised acting at the first sign of concern, seeking support early and adapting teaching to the child’s needs so that frustration does not build. That approach mirrors guidance from the Mayo Clinic, which describes dyslexia as a specific learning disability rather than an intelligence issue and stresses the importance of early identification and intervention.

Ruiz Martín also challenged several persistent myths. Reading, he said, is not an instinctive skill in the way spoken language is; it depends on explicit teaching because writing is a human invention rather than a natural process. He added that dyslexia is not a vision problem, but a neurobiological condition linked to how the brain processes the sounds of language. The same difficulty can appear even in blind readers using Braille, he said, because the underlying issue is the mapping of symbols to sounds, not eyesight.

He also rejected the idea that reading problems should be left to resolve on their own as children mature. Children can begin learning to read from the point at which they can already speak, he said, so waiting for a difficulty to disappear is a mistake. In his view, early years education should focus on pre-reading skills such as awareness of speech sounds and knowledge of letters, while first grade should be the point at which children begin to decode properly.

The discussion extends to the tools children use as well. Ruiz Martín told El País that there is little meaningful difference between reading on paper and reading on an e-book, although he cautioned that phones and tablets can create distractions through notifications, adverts and social media. The real concern, he said, is not the screen itself but how it is used, especially if it replaces the conversation, interaction and shared experiences that are vital in early childhood. That view is in line with the wider evidence base, which supports structured, systematic reading instruction and early assessment rather than a wait-and-see approach.