How to help my struggling reader

Reading Can Become Easier for Your Struggling Reader

Watching your child struggle with reading can be painful. Not only in the here and now, but also in the future not being sure that they are going to have the ability to achieve in school.  You may be searching “how to help my struggling reader” on google and finding so many ideas and activities that you are overwhelmed and don’t know where to start.  This can be so daunting, but don’t lose hope because there is hope.  You can help your child become a confident reader by focusing on 3 activities.

3 Simple ways to build fluent readers

To help a struggling reader, one must give them the tools to be successful.  So many times, sub skills are taught in isolation and for the struggling reader it can be extremely hard to transfer them into reading.  We read for meaning so we want to make sure that we give our students these skills.  These activities have been created by Marnie at Reading Simplify.  Each activity focuses on many sub skills which allows the child to get ample practice in less time and fewer tasks.  It is a win win :).

Give your child the skills

There are two skills that will help create a strong reader, which is a strong phonic foundation and ability to blend sounds to make words.  First, the child must have a strong sound/symbol foundation.  This is the understanding that a sound is represented by a letter or letters.  For example, the sound /c/ in cat, kite, black, school, and clique. 

To help your child build a strong sound/symbol basis you want to give them the opportunity to build words by switching out one sound at a time.  You also don’t want to just focus on one sound, one letter words but show the different combinations of letters. 

How to build words by sounds and not only letters

For example, ask your child to make the word that.  Have the sounds /th/ /a/ and /t/ on little squares.  Mix the sounds up.  Next, ask your child to make the word that.  If they are unable to identify the first sound, you will want to stretch it out and put emphasis.  Then ask them to drag down the sound.  If they do not know the letter combination you can point to it.  Always give them the opportunity to try.  Then move onto the next sound and repeat the steps above.  At the end have your child say each sound.  /th/ /a/ /t/ and then say the word. 

Now you will say, “I have that. Let’s make the word mat.”  Ask students what they need to switch to make that say mat.  Remember to emphasize the sound they are to focus on.  Then they can switch the /th/ to /m/ and say each sound in the new word /m/ /a/ /p/ and then map.  Continue this for about 10 to 12 words. 

Teacher Tip:  If the student is struggling to remember the letter sound, have them say what they are switching.  For example, from above, switch /th/ to /m/ This helps get more practice.

Blending

Teach your child to read the entire word.

It is important that the child knows how to blend an entire word.  When I was learning to read, I was taught to say each sound and then say the word.  For example, /c/ /l/ /a/ /p/ clap but typically it would come out cap or cat, or even pad.  More recent research is showing the importance of blending as you go. 

So, let’s take the same word from above: clap. It would be /c/ /cl/ /cla/ and finally /clap/.  This approach develops better auditory sound processing.  To complete this activity with your child, you will want to cover up the word and reveal it sound by sound, having them blend the sounds together.

It is suggested to practice blending with single words and then to have the child transfer the skill into the books they are reading. For this activity you will need a dry erase board and a list of words to practice with. Write the word on the dry erase board. Then have the student read the word. If they struggle, cover all but the first two sounds. Have the student blend the sounds together. Then reveal the next sound and blend all the sounds together. Continue until the entire word is read. You can then ask your child to make a sentence with the word to make sure they read it correctly.

Accurate Reading Practice

The last way to help your child become an efficient reader is to provide accurate reading practice.  Realize here that accuracy is the bolded point.  Yes, students should read lots of books and try their best to read unknown words on their own.  However, it is vital that they are applying their knowledge of the sound/symbol and then blending the sounds together to read the words.  You want to make sure they are reading the words and not just memorizing. 

Check out this blog about the best books for beginning readers.  It is important to have your child read out loud to you even when they are older.  If they are struggling with a word, you can use a card to help them blend as they read.  Or if they do not know a certain sound, you can point to it and say what it says.  The more they read accurately and practice recalling the different phonic combinations, the more fluent they will become.  Reading practice will also help them learn sight words, because they will be exposed to those words in their reading.

Summary

Apply these tips for 20 minutes each day and you will start noticing huge improvements.  Even if you just do it a couple of times a week you will see progress.

To conclude, remember the 3 ways to help support your struggling reader is to build words, practice blending as you go, and have ample amount of accurate reading practice.

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