Nine-year-old Jake used to hide his reading homework in his backpack. It seems confidence hiding behind his notes.
“I’m not dumb,” he told his mom with tears in his eyes…
“But I think my teacher thinks I am.”
Like many kids with dyslexia, Jake wasn’t just struggling to read—he was losing belief in himself.
Science now shows that confidence isn’t just about feelings—it changes how your child’s brain works during reading. For the 1 in 5 kids with dyslexia, this connection between confidence and learning can make or break their progress.
What Brain Science Tells Us About Confidence and Reading
When researchers examined brain scans of children reading, they discovered something important:
Kids who believed they could become better readers showed different brain activity than those who had given up hope.
Dr. Jennifer Mangels’ team found that confident readers’ brains stayed more active and engaged when facing hard words. Even when they made mistakes, their brains worked to solve the problem instead of shutting down.
A major study of over 4,200 students found that a child’s belief in their reading ability predicted 31% of their actual reading improvement. More than family income (12%) or their previous reading scores (28%).
What this means for you:
Your child’s belief about whether they can become a reader is changing how their brain works with words.
The Confidence Crash: How Dyslexia Hurts Self-Belief
By third grade, 7 out of 10 dyslexic kids develop negative beliefs about their learning abilities. Compared to just 2 out of 10 of their classmates. These feelings start as early as age six—often before they’re even diagnosed with dyslexia.
Dr. Kathryn Gibbs found something that might surprise you:
A dyslexic child’s confidence at the start of reading. It helps predict their improvement better than how well they could read initially. Children who believed they could improve showed 24% more progress than those who had similar reading challenges but had lost confidence.
“Many parents focus completely on finding the right reading program,” says Dr. Gibbs, “but miss how their child’s confidence is falling apart while they search.”
What this means for you: When your child says “I can’t” or “I’m bad at reading,” addressing that belief is just as important as teaching reading skills.
How Reading Anxiety Changes Your Child’s Brain
Using special brain imaging, scientists can now see what happens in a dyslexic child’s brain during reading. Dr. Tzipi Horowitz-Kraus found that confident dyslexic readers use alternative brain pathways more effectively, especially those that help with visual processing.
“The dyslexic brain can compensate wonderfully,” she explains, “but anxiety blocks this process.”
Research from Yale shows that when dyslexic children expect to fail at reading, their bodies release stress hormones that interfere with the brain’s ability to form new reading memories. This means anxiety isn’t just making reading unpleasant—it’s biologically preventing learning.
What this means for you: Your child’s reading anxiety isn’t just an emotional issue—it’s making it harder for their brain to learn reading skills.
What Works: Building Reading Confidence
The good news? Research shows clear ways to break this negative cycle. A recent study compared two groups of dyslexic students. Both groups got the same reading instruction, but one group also received specific confidence-building help. After just 16 weeks, the confidence-boosted group improved their reading by 28% more.
Research shows these approaches work best:
- Teaching growth mindset: Studies show that when children learn that reading ability can grow and change (rather than being fixed), they stick with difficult reading tasks 43% longer. This extra effort led to better decoding skills within just eight weeks.
- Highlighting strengths: Research found that dyslexic children who regularly heard about their strengths—like creative thinking, storytelling, or problem-solving—showed greater persistence during reading challenges.
- Finding the right challenge level: Studies show dyslexic students make the best progress when reading material that lets them get about 80-85% of words correct—challenging enough to build skills but not so hard that they expect to fail.
What this means for you: Building your child’s confidence isn’t extra—it’s essential to their reading success.
Your Powerful Role as a Parent
As a parent, you have more influence over your child’s confidence than anyone else. Research from Johns Hopkins University found that what parents believe about their child’s reading potential is the biggest predictor of the child’s confidence—more powerful than what teachers or friends say.
Try these research-backed approaches:
- Praise effort, not smarts: “You kept trying even when that paragraph got tough!” builds stronger confidence than “You’re so smart!”
- Create a success collection: Have your child save evidence of reading progress, no matter how small. These concrete reminders build confidence that lasts through challenges.
- Share your struggles: When you talk openly about times you’ve found learning difficult but kept going, your child learns persistence.
- Talk about their superpowers: Regularly discuss your child’s strengths to create a more balanced self-image that doesn’t over-focus on reading struggles.
Beyond “You Can Do It!”: Building Real Confidence
While encouragement helps, research shows structured confidence-building activities work even better than just saying nice things.
Dr. Melissa Orkin’s study showed that dyslexic students who learned to track their reading progress—becoming experts on their learning—improved their reading fluency 37% more than students who got the same reading help without tracking their progress.
“The key was giving them control,” explains Dr. Orkin. “When kids could see their small improvements adding up, they developed real confidence, not just wishful thinking.”
What this means for you: Look beyond simple encouragement to activities that help your child see and measure their progress.
Breaking the Negative Cycle
The relationship between confidence and reading works in both directions. Dr. Beatrice Hayes calls this the “confidence-success loop”—each small reading success builds confidence, which makes the next success more likely.
“For dyslexic readers, this loop often runs backward,” she explains. “Each struggle hurts confidence, making the next reading experience harder.”
Her research found that you can break this cycle by either building skills that create confidence or by directly building confidence that supports skill development. The best approach does both at the same time.
Key Takeaway: Confidence Is Treatment, Not Just Result
For too long, confidence was seen as just a happy bonus of successful reading help. Now science shows that a child’s belief in their ability to read changes how their brain processes words.
As one mom said after her dyslexic son’s breakthrough: “We spent years focused only on phonics rules, but nothing clicked until we rebuilt his confidence. The reading instruction gave him tools, but confidence gave him the courage to use them.”
The research is clear: building confidence isn’t optional—it’s essential for helping dyslexic kids learn to read. When we strengthen a child’s belief that they can become a reader, we’re helping rewire their brain to make reading possible.
A Critical Truth: Confidence Alone Isn’t Enough
It’s important to understand that simply telling a dyslexic child to “be more confident” or “try harder” is like asking someone with nearsightedness to just focus better without glasses. The dyslexic brain has real neurobiological differences that make standard reading approaches ineffective.
Research shows that dyslexic brains process language differently at a fundamental level. Wishful thinking can’t bridge these neural gaps. True progress requires:
- Targeted skill development using approaches specifically designed for the dyslexic brain
- Genuine confidence-building based on actual progress, not empty praise
- Appropriate accommodations that work with—not against—your child’s brain differences
Take Action Now: Don’t Wait Another Day
If your child is struggling with reading and confidence, the time to act is now. Research shows that the gap between dyslexic readers and their peers widens each year without proper intervention—and so does the confidence gap.
Remember: Your child doesn’t need to just “try harder”—they need a completely different approach that respects how their brain works. With the right methods, dyslexic children don’t just learn to read—they discover their unique cognitive strengths and rebuild the confidence that makes learning possible.
Don’t let another day pass with your child feeling like Jake did. The right support changes everything—both in their brain and in their heart.
