My 1st grader seems to be having trouble learning to read. Do I need to do anything or should I just wait and see if he picks it up when he gets a little older? My child is 7 and still not reading; do I need to do anything to help him? How can I help my 8 year old who is behind in learning to read? If a student is not acquiring reading skills, do I need to take action?
Do not wait! Begin an effective intervention program immediately. The earlier you help your child learn to read proficiently the better. The impression that reading is a natural developmental process and kids will grow into proficient reading is false. Most struggling readers never ‘catch up’ or ‘pick it up’ on their own.
The evidence proves children who struggle with reading difficulties early on often continue to struggle with reading. If appropriate direct intervention does not occur, most these students do not ‘catch up’ with their peers. The frequent misconceptions the child or student “will pick it up later”, “will grow into reading” and “just needs a little more time” are not supported by fact. The facts are students who are behind at the end of first grade usually remain behind. The statistics clearly show the vast majority of the children who were poor readers in first grade were poor readers later on. Approximately 75% of students identified with reading problems in 3rd grade were still disabled readers in 9th grade. Look at the information under ‘The Scope of Reading Difficulties in
In addition to the reading performance research data, we now have neurobiologic proof reading difficulties do not ‘go away’. The brain imaging research shows the ‘incorrect’ dyslexic neural pathways first develop in beginning readers.
Sometimes students ‘get by’ with incorrect processing in the lowest grades (K, 1st). The easy reading material, illustrations, context clues, oral directions and limited depth of content can disguise their difficulty decoding print. For example, if the child looks at the picture or memorizes repetitive text it appears he can ‘read’. However, students who have not developed necessary phonologic processing rapidly run into problems as vocabulary expands. The incorrect strategies of ‘whole word’ visual memorization, word guessing, context clues and predictable text fail as reading level advances. This is often why ‘reading problems’ often become evident in 2nd or 3rd grade. In reality, the ‘difficulty’ processing print already existed. To read proficiently, the student must process print phonetically. Students who don’t develop phonologic processing pathways face persistent difficulty reading.
For more information, see Students Who Face Difficulties Learning to Read: Information on Reading Problems and Dyslexia
The good news is that effective phonologic based intervention programs not only improve reading skills but actually develop the neural processing pathways used by proficient readers. You can teach your child to read proficiently with a direct systematic phonics program. The earlier you help your child learn how to read proficiently the better. See the article How to Help a Child or Student Who Struggles With Reading Overcome Their Reading Difficulties and Achieve Reading Success and Elements of an Effective Reading Remediation Program.
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Additional information, articles and resources on teaching students to read proficiently is located on the Free Reading Information page of the Right Track Reading website.
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This information was written by Miscese Gagen a mother with a passion for teaching children to read proficiently by using effective methods. She is also a successful reading tutor and author of the reading instructional programs Right Track Reading Lessons and Back on the Right Track Reading Lessons. The purpose of this information is to empower parents and teachers with information on teaching children how to read. We CAN improve reading proficiency, one student at a time! Additional information is located at www.righttrackreading.com ~ Copyright 2005, 2006, 2007 Miscese R. Gagen