My 1st grader is not learning to read. Because of his difficulty reading, the school would like for him to repeat 1st grade next year. Socially and maturity wise he is ready to move on. Should he repeat 1st grade just to improve his reading skills?
If a young child is facing difficulty reading, you need to step in and directly help him develop necessary reading skills. Sometimes there are valid maturity or other reasons for keeping a child from advancing to a higher grade. HOWEVER, if the only reason for holding a child back is failure to learn to read you need to directly address the reading skills instead of just holding him back. Unfortunately, repeating the same program of instruction that failed the child the first time around will frequently not help the child improve their reading abilities. Repeating a grade does not necessarily build necessary skills. The child needs direct effective reading intervention; the sooner the better. Immediately step in and help the child develop necessary reading skills with an effective direct systematic phonics program. The solution to helping a struggling student overcome reading difficulty is direct and effective intervention.
I tutored a child in this exact situation. The school highly recommended having this bright and energetic boy repeat 1st grade because of his extremely low reading ability. The mother was concerned and opposed to retaining him because socially he was in the proper group. She contacted me and I tutored him over the summer. I tutored him 29 ½-hour sessions (approximately 15 hours total). He quickly learned his foundational reading skills. When he first re-entered school in the fall he tested at high 2nd grade reading level. In a relatively short time period (15 hours of instructional time) he went from critically low reading level to the high end for his grade. In this case, the student’s reading difficulties were resolved with effective direct systematic phonics instruction.
Note: If you have a child who struggles with reading, you need to provide direct effective remediation. If you continue to promote a child who struggles with reading and do not directly build necessary reading skills they tend to get farther and farther behind in all subjects. The key to helping a child succeed is direct and effective intervention. The earlier you help a child develop necessary reading skills the better. See the answer to the previous question about the importance of early and effective intervention.
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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