The impact of reading difficulties on children’s wellbeing

Genevieve McArthur, kris gica

Abstract

Earlier this year, our podcast with Mandy Nayton – Educational and Developmental Psychologist and Chief Executive Officer of the Dyslexia-SPELD Foundation – explored ways to support students of all ages read successfully. In the first of 3 follow-up articles, Professor Genevieve McArthur – of the Australian Centre for the Advancement of Literacy at ACU and Director of Research Translation at the Dyslexia-SPELD Foundation – shares how reading difficulties can impact student wellbeing. In 2023, Hamish Kelly published a book. This was impressive for several reasons. First, he was only in year 10. Second, he had already published a book in year 6. And third, he wrote these books despite having severe and persistent difficulties with reading, which some people call dyslexia. In his first book, Hamish explained how it felt when he first started to learn to read: ‘When I first started school, there was no homework and we learnt through fun and games. I loved coming to school! Then it got harder! We had to learn to read. Suddenly everything was hard! The letters in words were confusing and words often looked the same,’ (Kelly, 2023, pp. 4-6). He also explained how his reading difficulties impacted his wellbeing: ‘Each year it got harder. Reading got harder and maths got twice as hard, as maths has lots of reading as well ... By year 5, I was down on myself. I felt stupid and dumb!! My Mum, Dad, and teachers told me I wasn't, but I still felt that I was. There [were] other challenges ... like anxiety and loss of confidence,’ (pp.10, 14, 39). Hamish is not alone. One in 3 students in Australia fail to meet basic standards in literacy, and one in 4 experience high levels of psychological distress (ACARA, 2025; AIHW, 2026). Traditionally, reading and wellbeing have been considered unrelated. However, there is now sufficient scientific evidence to suggest that reading is related to certain aspects of wellbeing, which are shown in the cycle below (McArthur, 2022).

Keywords

children’s wellbeing.

Sustainable Development Goals

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