A Reading Intervention Teacher Answers Your Reading Questions
If your child is in school, you probably have questions about how what is normal as they start reading. Are they behind, or on target? How can you support them on their literacy journey? Do you need to do anything special to help them learn to read? How can you help them with reading at home? When should you consider getting additional reading support for your child?
If you have these reading questions, and don’t know who to ask, this post is for you. You now have access to a reading intervention teacher, and I’m sharing frequently asked questions – and questions that should be asked – about learning to read. I break down the basics, and help you understand how learning to read works.
I am currently a reading intervention teacher to fourth graders who are at least one grade level behind in reading. Most of my fourth graders are reading at a kindergarten or first grade level. People always ask why they are so far behind, and while there are many reasons, there is one common denominator.
If a child doesn’t grasp the foundational literacy skills that are usually taught in kindergarten or first grade, they will likely continue to struggle with reading. In fact, research shows that if a child is a poor reader at the end of first grade, they are 90% more likely to remain a poor reader in fourth grade (and beyond).
It’s easy for a child to miss a foundational literacy skill. In fact, my own son did. He had some health challenges in kindergarten that resulted in him missing 15 days of school in the last few months. Apparently, they learned a LOT in those 15 days because he required reading intervention in fourth grade to learn those reading skills.
Here’s the good news, even if a child misses foundational literacy skills and falls behind, they can catch up! My son only needed one month of reading intervention. He left fourth grade reading at a sixth grade reading level, and has been a voracious reader ever since. I have had students who started working with me in September, and by December, were either fully at grade level or above grade level. I’m not a magician. Once a skill clicks, students are able to apply them when they read, and their reading improves significantly. Sometimes they’re just missing one key literacy skill, but it is applied in many different words. The hard part is figuring out which skill is missing.
What Reading Skills Should My Child Know Before Kindergarten?
If your child is just entering kindergarten, relax. As long as they’re potty trained, they’re not behind. Kindergarten teachers are used to students coming in at a variety of levels. Of course, if you want to prepare your child as much as possible, ideally, they should enter kindergarten knowing all 26 letters, and their primary sounds.
What is a primary sound? The short vowel sound is taught well before the long vowel sound. For example, your child will learn “a” for “apple,” not “a” for “ate.” Another example is they will learn the “y” sound as “y” for “yellow,” not “y” like “my” or “baby.” Literacy instruction isn’t completely linear, but skills are built on each other, so we start with a foundation. If you have more questions about kindergarten literacy, check out this post.
My Child Keeps Getting Letters Mixed Up. Are They Dyslexic?
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I can’t answer the dyslexia question without evaluating your child. However, I can tell you that it is VERY common for kindergarten and first grade students to mix up letters – particular b, d, p, q, m, n. My son’s teacher once told me that if it continues past the end of second grade, you should look into an evaluation. I have had many fourth grade students still confusing the letter sounds, but through lots of repetition and reading practice, they eventually got them straight as well. If your child is struggling, you should focus on practicing the mixed up letters over and over again so that they can recognize them with automaticity.
Kids have different learning styles, but in general, if students are having a hard time remembering which letter has which sound, you may want to go back to the basics. Using sound cards with visual reminders helps. That’s why you always see the alphabet along the wall in a classroom. and letters have a corresponding picture. Many students need the visual reminder far longer than you’d expect – especially when it comes to spelling. I have sound cards available on my Products page, but you can find them on Amazon, or even your local dollar store.
How Long Will It Take for my Child to Learn Letters and Sounds? When Should I Get Concerned?
Every child is different. Some kids will take longer than others, while some kids naturally pick it up. Did you know that only 25-50% of the population learn to read easily with minimal or general instruction? That means more than half of the population requires explicit instruction, and a lot of practice.
I can’t give you a specific timeline on when to worry about your child’s learning pace. However, if they still only know a handful of letters and sounds after months of practicing at home, reading together regularly, and receiving classroom instruction, you may want to talk to their teacher. If it has been several months but they haven’t done any at-home phonics practice, I would definitely add that into the mix. If your child is struggling with a specific short vowel sound, you might want to practice with my short vowel phonics worksheets. If you need more comprehensive practice, check out my beginner reader phonics workbook on Amazon.
A lot of schools won’t evaluate a student until after first-grade, since it can take some time for some students to grasp literacy concepts. That being said, if you’ve been working with your child at home, and are concerned, speak with their teacher. They may have resources, or be able to support you in a request for evaluation. If you want a formal evaluation to be conducted, put your request in writing (via email). Schools have a specific amount of time that they must legally comply with the request.
My Child’s Teacher Wants Them to Memorize Sight Words. What are Sight Words, and How Can They Memorize All of Those Words?
Sight words, also called high frequency words, are words that are difficult to sound out or decode. Sometimes, they are difficult to decode because your new reader hasn’t learned all of the decoding strategies, so they are not aware that the “ee” in “see” is a long e sound. Sometimes they are difficult to sound out because they are irregular, and don’t follow typical rules. For example, in the word “have,” the “e” at the end of the word is not a “bossy e.” It does not make the “a” a long a sound. Another example is the word “you.” It is not a decodable word, it is irregular.
The reason sight words are also referred to as high frequency words is because they tend to appear in texts a lot. So if your child doesn’t know those words, they will have difficulty reading a text. The most common teaching strategy is to have students memorize high frequency words.
It can feel overwhelming for a kindergartener to memorize a list of new words. When my sons were in kindergarten, they had word turtles – a turtle with boxes for each sight word they were required to learn. There were between 9-12 words on each turtle, and they were usually unrelated. Students were expected to memorize all of the words on the turtle, coloring them in as they memorized them. Once all of the words were memorized, they would return the sheet to their teacher and get quizzed on the spot. If they memorized them all, they would move to the next turtle.
Ideally, the words students are being asked to memorize follow patterns so that they are easier to memorize. It is also best practice to help students map out the words, helping them understand patterns. However, most schools give students words based on their frequency, and expect them to just memorize them, without looking at patterns. It can be done, it’s just more challenging for some students.
Some kids are more motivated than others. My older son wanted to beat his peers, so he happily practiced at home. My younger son did not care one bit. I had to gamefiy it for him. Some kids need a reward, while others just need verbal praise. Figure out your child’s currency – you’ll need it later for multiplication tables – and work with them.
A memorization strategy that worked in my house was to practice daily with games. If there were 12 words on the word turtle, I would focus on 3-5 words at a time. Some games we played included hopscotch, bean bag toss, and “The Floor is Lava.” We also did a lot of repetition in the car. I would have them spell the word for me, then I would tell them the word, they the would spell it again and tell me the word. Integrating practice into our routine, and making it fun, helped them eventually memorize all of the words on the turtle.
For the hopscotch game, I used sight words instead of numbers. They had to read the word when they hopped in that box. For the bean bag toss, we spread index cards with sight words written on them on the floor and my child had to toss a beanbag and read the word the beanbag landed on. “The Floor is Lava” also used note cards, but the sight words safe when the floor turned into lava. They could land on the word if they could read the word. Making sight word practice fun was key for my youngest. Check out this post for a list of easy, free sight word games you can do at home.
My child struggles with reading so much that he hates reading.
Every time we learn something new, it’s going to be hard. Reading is no different. Unfortunately, the only way to become a stronger reader is to practice reading a lot. You should read to them, they should read independently, and they should read to you. The more reading practice they get at home, the more their reading will improve, I promise!
The good news is, there are so many great books available that you are sure to find something your child will enjoy. If your budget is tight (or even if it isn’t), the library is the best place to start! Let your child check out as many books as they can, but try to find books that are very simple to help them succeed. You can mix it up with simple books that they read, and challenging books that you read to them to spark their interest in books.
If you’re struggling to find appropriate decodable readers, check out my products page. I have developed decodable readers that focus specifically on one vowel sound, as well as one that focuses on all short vowel sounds. As long as you are practicing with your child, and they are building the foundational skills, they will get there.
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