‘Dyslexia Is a Superpower’ Sounds Kind. Here’s What It Hides.

Does a reading struggle hide a memory superpower?

The lists say yes. A strong visual memory. A gift for space and shapes. We have not found research that ties memory strengths to reading struggles. Here is what the studies we hold do say.

In large groups of children, two memory skills show up as related but separate. One is holding words and sounds in mind. The other is holding pictures and places in mind (Alloway and colleagues, 2006). That is a finding about groups. It does not tell you which skill is stronger in your child. Here is what group studies show, and their limits for one child.

Studies of children who find reading hard do not agree, either. In one small study, memory for pictures and places was weaker (Gathercole and colleagues, 2006). Another found it was the one area that held up (Masoura and colleagues, 2021). Researchers are still working this out. So we would not trust a list that reads strengths off a label. To us, a reading struggle is not a measure of your child’s whole mind. It points to no hidden weakness and no promised gift. And struggling to read says nothing about how smart your child is.

Is my child a visual or hands-on learner?

Many superpower lists lean on this idea. Teach each child in their own style, and they will shine. It sounds kind. It has been checked twice.

A 2008 review looked at matching teaching to a learning style (Pashler and colleagues). It found virtually no evidence that matching helps. A 2024 review found any benefit too small and too rare to adopt (Clinton-Lisell and Litzinger). Neither time did the evidence justify sorting children by style.

Yet belief runs high. Nearly 9 in 10 educators surveyed still believe it (Newton and Salvi, 2020). That isn’t a science problem. It’s a systems problem. Here is what the two reviews found about learning styles, in plain words.

Children do differ in specific skills. That part is real. The useful question is not which type your child is. It is which skill they still need, and which one to teach first. Showing a lesson in more than one way, for every child, is fine. Sorting one child into one way is the part that does not hold up.

So how do I find my child’s real strengths?

Start with the hard part, because it is real. Reading is hard work for your child right now. Many people who struggled to read as children say the same thing. The “it’s a gift” talk made them feel worse. It skipped over how hard the road was.

Our view: strengths are earned through the struggle. They are not a prize handed out for it. Children who find reading hard are not a type. Their strengths are their own, so look for this child’s, not a list.

• Watch what they choose. What do they build, fix, draw or take apart when nobody asks?
• Listen to how they explain. Notice the stories they tell and the questions they ask.
• Notice what they stick with. Keeping at something hard is a strength too.
• Name it out loud. Say exactly what you saw: “You kept going on that model until it stood up.”

Then share what you see. Tell the teacher what your child builds, explains and sticks with. A teacher who knows the whole child has more to work with.

Keep the reading teaching going too. A strength does not stand in for reading. Both get to be true. Tonight, pick one thing your child did well, away from books. Tell them, in specific words.