Studies have shown that early childhood poverty is a risk factor for lower educational attainment. It is also associated with differences in brain structure, poorer cognition, behavioural problems and mental health symptoms.
Poverty is linked to poorer brain development – but reading can help counteract itEarly childhood is a critical period for brain development, which is important for boosting cognition and mental wellb.
Children who begin reading for pleasure early in life tend to perform better at cognitive tests and have better mental health when they enter adolescence, a study of more than 10,000 young adolescents in the US has found.