Unironically yes. Neuroplasticity means that that is exactly a way to improve brain function. Not perfect, not universal, not the only way, but absolutely a working approach.

(Obvious disclaimer: Not a doctor, not your doctor, this is not medical advice.)

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.

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.

Unironically wrong. That’s like saying the key to a kid being good at calculus is skipping the silly arithmetic and geometry topics and taking a calculus course.

As a mathematician, I say: if the kid is "somewhat mature" in mathematics, I wouldn't say this is necessarily a bad idea.

I honestly love to read mathematical textbooks that are quite above my current mathematical level and knowledge. It is brutal to go through and attempting to understand the material, but this is soooo rewarding.

This method of learning mathematics is clearly not for everyone, but if you are sufficiently motivated to go this way, and love the brutality innate to this method, I actually would recommend it.

As a middle-aged adult with ADD, "try harder, just do it" is absolutely not an effective overall treatment for ADD at any age.

Agreed. However, doing things that reinforce ADD are an anti-treatment.

Dunno why you're being downvoted. Practising reading is probably one of the best things I've done for my attention recently. I've gone from being so unable to sit still in a one hour reading session that I read only 4 pages, to mostly being able to sit still and read around 30 pages. And yeah I started with a book I was hyper-engaged in, then joined a book club and read what's assigned to me, and I'm working up to reading harder things. This is a much cheaper way to train your attention than an overpriced shitty videogame. Though playing super hard video games like Dark Souls type and forcing myself to persevere also can be a good excercise for me.