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Music: A New, Promising Avenue of Support
In 2015, INSERM (the French National Institute of Health and Medical Research) conducted a study on the links between music and dyslexia in children. The results were striking: 60% of participants improved their reading skills.
Yet music therapy is still not sufficiently integrated into dyslexia intervention. Numerous studies confirm its benefits for language, attention, and self-esteem. Whether through playing an instrument, singing, or rhythmic games, music stimulates areas of the brain involved in learning. So why not give it its rightful place in supporting children with dyslexia?
It’s now scientifically proven that music soothes the soul—but that’s not all. Thanks to neural plasticity, regular training also reshapes brain organization, including in children with dyslexia.
Dyslexia Affects More Than Just Reading
A specific written language disorder affects how students learn to read and write. Dyslexia is the most widely studied form. For a child with dyslexia, challenges often show up in the following areas:
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Recognizing and discriminating sounds (phonological deficit)
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Linking letters to sounds and remembering common word spellings (cross-modal deficit)
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Perceiving all the letters in a word at once (visual–attentional deficit)
Dyslexia can also create broader learning challenges, such as:
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Weak working memory
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Difficulty automating certain tasks
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Significant mental fatigue
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Easily disrupted attention—especially if ADHD is also present
Overall, students with neurodevelopmental disorders simply process information differently. Their intelligence is intact, but some neural pathways work less efficiently, which means they need to rely on alternative routes for learning.
The Dyslexic Brain and Music: What Neuroscience Says
Neuroscience and medical imaging have significantly advanced our knowledge of how the brain works, particularly language.
Language areas
Two areas of the brain are involved in understanding and producing language: Broca's area and Wernicke's area, almost always located in the left hemisphere. They are connected by a network of nerve fibers called the arcuate fasciculus. Their actions are coordinated:
- Broca's area generates speech, the production and articulation of words.
- Wernicke's area perceives sounds and interprets language.
- The arcuate beam distributes information between these two areas.
And when reading or writing comes into play, the arcuate fasciculus also mobilizes the visual area to identify the physical form of phonemes: letters. It is precisely this circulation of information that is disrupted in people with dyslexia. The neuronal and neural connections are then less efficient.
Brain areas shared by music and language
Medical imaging has highlighted the brain activity of musicians. To play an instrument, decipher a musical score, or reproduce a rhythm, they mobilize areas identical to those used in language. They need to:
- differentiate the notes;
- read a score;
- interpret a scale or a movement;
- memorize and automate gestures.
It is still the areas of Broca, Wernicke and the visual area which come into play.
Clinical Studies: The Favorable Impact of Rhythm
Scientific observations—and Einstein himself—have long suspected that music could stimulate the brain. But it wasn't until the 2010s that research really looked into the impact of music on the rehabilitation of dyslexia, particularly dyslexia.
In France, clinical studies have evaluated the beneficial effects of rhythmic workshops on children with dyslexia aged 8 to 11. In 2015, a program launched at Aix-Marseille University showed that 60% of dyslexic children included in the protocol improved their reading performance. This musical training was combined with regular speech therapy support.
In 2018, François Vonthron and Antoine Yuen, both graduates of the École Polytechnique, collaborated with Dr. Michel Habib to launch scientific trials on the future clinically validated dyslexia application, Poppins. They relied on a rigorous protocol: standardized and randomized double-blind tests, control group, etc.
Their results confirmed the initial hypothesis: Rhythmic practice has a positive effect on phonological awareness, reading fluency, and working memory in children with dyslexia.
These studies do not replace traditional speech therapy rehabilitation approaches, but they open up a promising complementary avenue.
The Power of Music on the Brain
Poppins is backed by science and puts music at the heart of its games, for a fun and effective "workout."
What are the Beneficial Effects of Music on Dyslexia?
Science is shedding significant light on the impact of music on specific language and learning disorders (SLD). From speech processing to memory and phonology, the benefits are numerous and sometimes unexpected.
Improvement in Rhythm Processing, Attention, and Phonological Awareness
The studies cited above clearly show how practicing music strengthens the neural circuits of dyslexic children.
Reading
In reading, we observed an improvement in:
- Perception and discrimination of sounds (phonological awareness);
- Word segmentation (syllabic division);
- Reading phonologically complex words (grapheme-phoneme correspondences);
- The processing of grammatical rules (syntax);
- Perception of speech components, such as duration of sounds (short or long), high and low tones (auditory attention);
- Reading speed (fluency).
Executive functions
Among the unexpected findings, researchers also observed positive effects on executive functions, including:
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Verbal working memory – the ability to hold and use information needed for a task. This skill is critical when students must remember words they’ve just read or heard in order to make sense of a sentence or passage, or when they need to keep track of the steps in a set of instructions.
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Auditory attention – the ability to focus on and manage sounds. This includes selective attention (tuning out distractions) and divided attention (tracking multiple sources of information at once). For example, listening to the teacher’s directions while writing them down requires strong auditory attention.
Language processing
Regular music practice strengthens the brain connections essential for learning. This explains why rhythm helps correct dyslexia. As neurobiology professor David Schön pointed out in 2015, "Rhythm appears to regulate brain oscillatory activity, which is necessary for language processing and sound recognition."
Other neurodevelopmental disorders and ADHD
Although the studies conducted did not measure the effects on other learning disorders, musical training could be beneficial beyond dyslexia. Indeed, other learning disabilities—dysphasia, dysorthography—or ADHD share commonalities. The memory of dyslexic children and their ability to discriminate auditory information are fragile. The favorable results on executive functions therefore encourage researchers to verify the impact of music therapy on other neurodevelopmental disorders.
Confidence & Self-Esteem
Beyond language, music brings something unique: its aesthetic power. We know music can both calm and soothe (even animals) and/or spark energy and movement. It almost always goes hand in hand with dance, and its artistic dimension can be even more immediate than language.
To appreciate the beauty of a written text, students must first master reading skills. In contrast, the rhythm of a melody can instantly trigger emotion—or even the urge to move—without any special training. This sense of well-being is universal, experienced by everyone from toddlers to older adults.
That feeling of satisfaction helps regulate stress and unpleasant emotions. It fosters engagement, increases the likelihood of success, and fuels motivation—the true driver of learning.
For children with dyslexia, rhythm doesn’t just support language development. It strengthens attention, phonological awareness, and overall learning—while also bringing joy, confidence, and a boost in self-esteem.
Key Takeaways
Thanks to neural plasticity, the brain can overcome its limitations. The link between music and dyslexia is a perfect illustration of this. Rehabilitation for this specific language disorder is not limited to academic exercises. Musical practice effectively complements other language- and reading-based interventions. It stimulates the neural circuits linked to reading and writing, but also to attention and memory. Clinical studies confirm all these benefits, and they extend well beyond written language. They provide valuable support in the context of neurodevelopmental disorders. You can repeat it loud and clear: practicing music alleviates dyslexia.
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