[RoyalHenOil]

The brain is plastic, but it does not respond well to being hit with a brick wall. It needs reinforcement in the direction you want it to go.

For example, you treat a phobia through gradual exposure to the source of fear, not through undergoing a sudden overwhelming experience. That usually creates a traumatic response that actually makes the phobia worse.

Likewise, if you want to learn how to read a long book, start with shorter books and work your way up. If you can't sit through a novella and so you try to force yourself to read Crime and Punishment, you will fail — and you risk actually making it harder to read books in the future by strengthening the neural association between reading and feeling bored/frustrated.

[FrustratedMonky]

I think yjftsjthsd-h is correct.

These posts are arguing over 'scale' or degree. Everyone is agreeing on 'brain is plastic'.

Just arguing over starting with 'Crime and Punishment' or 'Snow Crash'.

I would just add, that it all depends on where the kid is at. This just jumped out at me because I did have one kid at young age, set a schedule and forced himself to read 'Crime and Punishment'. So it can be done.

But maybe for others, that is a huge step. Everyone is starting at some different levels of current skills, with different levels of drag. -- So any discussion here about 'where to start' will all be wrong.