What if our understanding of reading development has been missing crucial elements? Dr Laura Shapiro, developmental psychologist and senior lecturer at Aston University in the UK, challenges conventional wisdom about literacy instruction and reading engagement in this thought-provoking conversation.

Shapiro brings a refreshing perspective, explaining how she accidentally fell into literacy research and discovered a fascination with reading as a remarkable human invention. Unlike natural language acquisition, reading requires us to associate arbitrary symbols with sounds – an extraordinary learning feat that becomes automatic with practice. This complexity means there's no magic solution or one-time fix for reading difficulties.

The conversation explores why the "prevention is better than cure" approach to literacy has limitations. While high-quality phonics instruction in early years is vital, Shapiro emphasises that reading challenges evolve as students progress through education. What begins as decoding becomes a complex interplay of fluency, vocabulary knowledge, and comprehension strategies. This evolution means schools must continuously monitor reading development rather than assuming early interventions solve everything.

Particularly fascinating is Shapiro's research showing how reading proficiency creates a virtuous cycle: as proficiency increases, children read more and learn vocabulary more efficiently from what they read. A proficient reader learns more words from the same amount of text than a struggling reader – accelerating the Matthew Effect where the "reading rich get richer."

Shapiro offers practical insights for secondary schools, challenging educators to separate curriculum reading from reading for pleasure. "We can't call it reading for pleasure if we're dictating what children should read – that's reading for our pleasure, not theirs." This distinction frees schools to be more open-minded about what constitutes valuable reading experiences, embracing everything from graphic novels to comedy books.

Have you considered how your approach to encouraging reading might be inadvertently discouraging it? Listen to discover why supporting genuine reading engagement might require rethinking some fundamental assumptions about what, how and why children read.

Dr. Laura Shapiro is a developmental psychologist and senior lecturer at Aston University in the UK. Her research focuses on how children learn to read and the long-term benefits of reading. She has led projects like the Reading and Vocabulary (RAV) Project, which explores how reading ability and practice influence vocabulary growth during the transition from primary to secondary school . Dr. Shapiro also serves as the Director of Research within Aston’s School of Psychology, contributing to the Cognition and Neuroscience Research Group, and recently collaborated on the DFE's work supporting secondary school teachers to read with Jessie Ricketts.