06 Apr What to Do If Your Child Struggles With Reading
If your child is struggling with reading, we highly recommend that you do not delay in getting them additional support. Sometimes parents are told “let’s wait and see” or “let’s give them time.” However, research shows that without additional teaching, children who are struggling to read in early elementary will continue to struggle with reading throughout school. In other words, most struggling readers need direct intervention in order to improve their skills.
Where should you start?
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Gather your data that shows that your child is struggling with reading and spelling, for example standardized test scores, recordings of him/her reading aloud, report cards, or spelling tests.
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Talk to your child’s teacher about your concerns based on this information.
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Find out if your child has received extra or special reading instruction
If your child is receiving additional reading instruction you may want to ask the following questions:
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What evidence-based approaches or programs are being used to teach reading?
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Is a phonics-based approach being used to teach my child how to read?
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Does the phonics instruction focus on both blending and segmenting sounds to read and spell words?
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Are there opportunities for my child to read books that have the specific phonics skills he or she is practicing? These are sometimes called decodable books.
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When my child reads aloud to an adult at school, what are they encouraged to do when they come to a word they have difficulty with? Is she or he encouraged to look carefully at the letters and use phonics skills? Or instead is he/she encouraged to use clues like the pictures, the sentence, or their background knowledge to make a guess?
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How is his/her progress being monitored? What would happen if he/she isn’t making progress?
If your child is not receiving additional reading instruction you may want to ask the following questions:
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What additional reading support is available at school?
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Has my child been considered for this support?
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What would make my child eligible for this support?
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What would you recommend we do to help build my child’s reading skills?
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How is his/her progress being monitored? What would happen if he/she isn’t making progress?
If you are interested in learning more about your child’s reading development, how to tell if your child is having reading difficulties, and how to tell if your child is getting high-quality reading instruction, consider watching this 30 minute video by the National Center on Improving Literacy.
Many of our psychologists have a background in working in education and schools and would be happy to help you in this area. Contact us at (734) 323-4897 or info@galvingrowthgroup.com for more information.
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