If your child has ADHD and also struggles with reading, you’re not alone. Many parents are surprised to learn how often these two challenges go hand in hand—and it’s not just about distractibility. In fact, the underlying reasons why kids with ADHD struggle to read often run much deeper than behavior or a lack of focus. Understanding what’s really going on in the brain can help you target the root cause of both issues—and get your child on a path toward stronger reading skills and more confidence in learning and life.
The Link Between ADHD and Reading Struggles
Research shows a strong overlap between ADHD and reading difficulties. Studies estimate that 25% to 40% of children with ADHD also meet the criteria for a reading disorder like dyslexia. But even without a formal diagnosis, many kids with ADHD find reading difficult, frustrating, or exhausting.
Why?
Because reading is a cognitively demanding task—and the very brain skills that tend to be weaker in individuals with ADHD are also crucial for successful reading.
Shared Cognitive Struggles: ADHD and Reading Challenges
At LearningRx, we focus on the cognitive skills that make learning easier or harder. These are the brain’s core tools for thinking and learning, including skills like attention, working memory, processing speed, and auditory processing. Here’s how some of those key skills affect both ADHD and reading:
1. Attention
- ADHD: Kids with ADHD struggle to sustain attention, shift focus, and avoid distractions.
- Reading Impact: Reading requires sustained mental focus. Even brief lapses in attention can cause a child to lose their place or forget what they just read.
2. Working Memory
- ADHD: Working memory (the ability to hold and manipulate information) is often weak, leading to careless errors, lack of follow-through, or struggling with multi-step directions.
- Reading Impact: Kids need to remember what they read in one sentence to understand the next. Poor working memory makes comprehension difficult and can slow down reading progress.
3. Processing Speed
- ADHD: Many kids with ADHD process information more slowly (even if it seems like they’re moving at a million miles an hour… they’re moving fast, but making mistakes).
- Reading Impact: Slow or inefficient processing can make decoding and reading fluency a challenge. Kids may read so slowly that comprehension breaks down, they get overwhelmed and frustrated, or they lose interest.
4. Auditory Processing
- ADHD: While not always discussed in ADHD, weak auditory processing often co-occurs, leading to difficulties tuning into conversations in crowded or loud environments, struggling with spelling and writing, and issues following oral instructions.
- Reading Impact: This skill is essential for sounding out words, rhyming, and connecting letters to sounds. While it’s especially important in early reading development, weak auditory processing can make reading a battle until it is strengthened.
5. Long-Term Memory
- ADHD: According to research, this is one of the weakest cognitive skills in ADHD cognitive profiles, leading to difficulties accessing prior knowledge and using it in problem-solving and everyday life.
- Reading Impact: Remembering codes, blends, sight words, and reading rules is foundational for reading mastery, so if kids have to struggle to access this content, it’s going to slow them down and make reading more frustrating.
When these cognitive skills are weak, reading becomes an uphill battle—regardless of how hard a child tries or how much tutoring they receive. And the harder it feels, the more likely kids are to avoid reading altogether, reinforcing the cycle of struggle.
Brain Training: Targeting the Root of the Problem
Rather than simply accommodating reading struggles or focusing only on behavioral strategies, brain training targets the cognitive weaknesses that cause reading and attention difficulties in the first place.
At LearningRx, one-on-one brain training strengthens the core cognitive skills required for reading and focus. Our programs are customized to each student and designed to create lasting changes in how their brain processes information.
In fact, in a large-scale study of children with ADHD who completed a LearningRx program, researchers found significant improvements in multiple cognitive skills—including attention, working memory, and processing speed—as well as in real-life measures of behavior and academic performance.
By strengthening the brain’s foundational learning skills, we give kids the tools they need not just to survive reading—but to succeed and even enjoy it.
What Parents Can Do Right Now
While brain training can address the root issues long-term, here are a few things you can do today to make reading a little easier for your child with ADHD:
✅ Use Audiobooks or Read Aloud Together
Take the pressure off decoding and let your child focus on enjoying the story. Listening while following along with the text builds vocabulary and comprehension skills. (This is just a temporary fix, though, so work on building skills while you enjoy reading out loud together!)
✅ Break It into Bite-Sized Sessions
Instead of a 30-minute reading block, do three 10-minute bursts with movement breaks in between. This fits better with your child’s attention span and reduces frustration.
✅ Let Them Choose the Book
Kids are more likely to stick with reading when the topic is something they’re passionate about. Whether it’s graphic novels, sports bios, or silly poems—if they love it, it counts.
✅ Celebrate Progress, Not Perfection
Kids with ADHD often get discouraged easily. Focus on effort, not speed or accuracy. Reinforce the idea that practice makes progress, and set goals based on effort and not end performance.
Ready to Find Out What’s Really Holding Your Child Back?
If your child has ADHD and reading is still a daily battle, it’s time to dig deeper. Our cognitive assessment can help uncover the root cause of your child’s struggles—and create a clear path forward.
*Results from past studies and clients. You or your loved ones may or may not achieve the same outcomes.