Reading instruction prompts the emergence of neural circuits that are specialized for rapidly translating printed symbols into sound and meaning. Understanding how these circuits differ in children with dyslexia, and change with learning, is an important scientific challenge that holds practical implications for education. In this talk I will present new data linking changes in the white matter to the process of learning to read. Combining intensive reading intervention programs, with longitudinal MRI measurements, we find that altering a child’s educational environment can dramatically change white matter circuits and behavior over the timescale of weeks.