Dyslexia Duo Podcast Episode 83 - Dr. Maryanne Wolf

The Dyslexia Duo: Maryanne Wolf on the Reading Brain, Deep Reading, and Digital Wisdom Hosts Melissa Dean and Aimee Rodenroth interview developmental cognitive neuroscientist Maryanne Wolf, director of the Center for Dyslexia, Diverse Learners and Social Justice, about how reading is an invented, plastic brain circuit shaped by environment and medium. Wolf argues screens encourage skimming and reduced focus, contributing to a decline in sustained book reading among students, and describes retraining deep reading through print habits. She stresses the importance of reading aloud to young children, including by dyslexic or bilingual parents, to build language, cognition, and positive emotional associations with books. Wolf outlines core reading-brain components using the acronym POSSUM (phonology, orthography, semantics, syntax, morphology) and says multi-component instruction outperforms phonics-only approaches. She discusses dyslexia indicators including phonological awareness, rapid automatized naming, and orthographic factors, urges expansive science-of-reading practices, calls for research on wise AI/technology use and deep reading, and highlights evidence linking music—especially rhythm—to reading gains. 00:00 Meet Dyslexia Duo01:29 Introducing Maryanne Wolf04:59 Deep Reading Matters06:37 Screens Change Reading09:47 Losing Focus and Retraining14:07 Reading Aloud to Kids16:57 Dyslexic Parents Can Read20:39 Schools and EdTech Debate26:42 Sponsor Break28:23 Possum Reading Brain Model33:31 Research Proof and Ravo36:17 Targeted Strengths Approach38:12 Reading Wars Elbow Room43:04 Dyslexia Signs and Screeners44:08 Three Key Dyslexia Markers51:19 Future Research Priorities54:10 Music Rhythm and Reading56:45 Message to Struggling Families01:01:35 Lightning Round and Farewell