Does your child need help with basic reading skills?

Answer 1

"How do I know if my child needs help with basic reading skills?"

As a certified literacy coach and experienced, licensed teacher, I've seen firsthand how crucial early intervention is.

How to Recognize if Your Child Needs Help

The earliest indicators of reading difficulty often appear long before a child reaches complex texts. Pay close attention to these signs:

1. Difficulty with Phonological Awareness (Sounds in Words):
2. Struggles with Rhyming: Can they tell you words that rhyme with "cat" or "tree"? Can they identify when two words don't rhyme?
3. Trouble with Syllables: Can they clap out the syllables in words like "butter" or "elephant"?
4. Difficulty Isolating Sounds: Can they tell you the first sound in "dog" or the last sound in "cup"?
5. Blending Sounds: If you say sounds like /c/ /a/ /t/, can they put it together to say "cat"?
6. Segmenting Sounds: Can they break the word "fish" into its individual sounds: /f/ /i/ /sh/?
7. Manipulating Sounds: Can they tell you what's left if you take the /b/ sound out of "ball"?
8. Challenges with Phonics (Sound-Letter Correspondence):
9. Slow or Inaccurate Decoding: When they encounter an unfamiliar word, do they struggle to sound it out, or do they guess wildly?
10. Confusing Similar-Looking Words: Do they mix up words like "pat" and "pot," or "cat" and "cut"?
11. Difficulty with Letter Sounds: Do they know the sounds for all the letters of the alphabet, beyond just their names? Do they struggle with common digraphs (sh, ch, th) or vowel teams (ea, oi, ou)?
12. Lack of Fluency: Do they read word-by-word, rather than in phrases or sentences, even after repeated exposure to a text? Their reading might sound choppy or laborious.
13. Limited Sight Word Recognition:
14. Struggles with High-Frequency Words: Do they consistently stumble on common words like "the," "said," "was," "where," even after seeing them many times? These are words that often don't follow phonetic rules and need to be memorized by sight.
15. Poor Reading Comprehension (Even Simple Texts):
16. Unable to Retell: After reading a short passage, can they tell you what happened or who the characters were?
17. Difficulty Answering Questions: Can they answer basic "who, what, where, when, why" questions about a story they just read?
18. Lack of Engagement: Do they avoid reading, or seem frustrated by it? This can be a sign that the underlying mechanics are too difficult.

Basic Skills a Tutor Can Help Teach (Science of Reading Methodologies)

As your child's tutor, my approach is firmly rooted in the Science of Reading, which is a vast body of research on how the brain learns to read effectively. This evidence-based methodology emphasizes systematic and explicit instruction in key foundational skills. I focus on:

1. Phonological Awareness: This is the bedrock of reading. Before linking sounds to letters, children need to hear and manipulate the sounds in spoken language. We would work on:
2. Rhyming: Identifying and producing rhymes.
3. Syllable Awareness: Segmenting words into syllables, blending syllables together.
4. Onset-Rime: Breaking words into the initial consonant sound (onset) and the rest of the word (rime), e.g., /c/ + /at/.
5. Phoneme Isolation: Identifying individual sounds in words (e.g., first sound, last sound, middle sound).
6. Phoneme Blending: Combining individual sounds to form a word (e.g., /d/ /o/ /g/ becomes "dog").
7. Phoneme Segmentation: Breaking a word into its individual sounds (e.g., "cat" becomes /c/ /a/ /t/).
8. Phoneme Manipulation: Adding, deleting, or substituting sounds within words (e.g., "cat" without the /c/ is "at"). These activities are crucial because, as research consistently shows, strong phonological awareness is the strongest predictor of early reading success.
9. Phonics and Decoding: Once phonological awareness is developing, we move into phonics – linking those sounds to the written symbols (letters). This involves:
10. Alphabet Knowledge: Mastering letter names and their corresponding sounds.
11. Consonant and Vowel Sounds: Explicit instruction in the sounds each letter makes.
12. CVC Words: Systematically teaching children to read and spell simple three-letter consonant-vowel-consonant words (e.g., "cat," "dog," "sit").
13. Digraphs and Blends: Understanding letter combinations like "sh," "ch," "th," "bl," "st."
14. Vowel Teams: Learning common vowel patterns like "ai," "ea," "ou."
15. Silent 'e' Rule: Understanding how a silent 'e' at the end of a word changes the vowel sound (e.g., "cap" vs. "cape").
16. Syllable Types: Teaching students common syllable patterns to help them decode multi-syllabic words. This systematic and explicit phonics instruction, often called structured literacy, is a cornerstone of the Science of Reading. Research by experts like Linnea Ehri highlights the critical role of phonics in developing orthographic mapping, which is the process where words become "sight words" for immediate recognition through repeated, accurate decoding. This is how proficient readers effortlessly recognize thousands of words.
17. High-Frequency Word Recognition (Sight Words): While many high-frequency words are decodable, some are irregular. We teach these strategically, often using phonics knowledge to "map" the regular parts and focus on memorizing only the irregular parts.
18. Fluency: Once a child can decode words accurately, we work on reading with speed, accuracy, and appropriate expression. This involves:
19. Repeated Readings: Reading passages multiple times to build automaticity.
20. Timed Readings: To help increase reading rate.
21. Phrasing and Expression: Understanding punctuation and text meaning to read with natural rhythm.
22. Vocabulary and Comprehension: While foundational skills are being built, we also integrate vocabulary development and comprehension strategies, ensuring your child not only reads the words but understands their meaning.

As a certified literacy coach and experienced, licensed teacher, I bring not just a deep understanding of these methodologies but also over 30 years of practical classroom and tutoring experience in tailoring instruction to meet the unique needs of each child. My goal is to build a strong, confident reader by addressing any foundational gaps and setting them up for long-term academic success.

Message Michele W. today to discuss details by scheduling a free consultation 765 346-0053 .

Or book an instant tutoring session now.

Answer 2

It depends how they have progressed. Keep an open line of discussion with your child's teacher to determine how they are performing. It is always a good idea to reinforce foundation skills early, so that it doesn't prevent your child from reading success as he/she progresses in to fluency, and comprehension.

Answer 3

If you're seeing signs like trouble with letter sounds, slow reading, poor comprehension, or avoidance of reading, it's a good idea to connect with their teacher for insights and consider tutoring and supplemental reading. Making reading fun at home through shared reading and games can also be really helpful. As someone passionate about helping kids learn to read, I offer tutoring services tailored to build foundational reading skills. If you'd like to explore how I can support your child, please feel free to reach out!

Answer 4

Yes! If your child is struggling with basic reading skills like sounding out words, recognizing sight words, or understanding what they read, getting extra help can make a big difference. A tutor can work one-on-one to build their confidence, improve fluency, and make reading feel fun and less frustrating. Early support sets the foundation for future success in all subjects!

Answer 5

Is your child struggling to read? Does he or she need help with basic reading skills? Many times a student is missing gaps in their basic reading skills. They may need to work on phonemic awareness skills such as rhyming, segmenting, blending, substituting, and deleting syllables or phonemes which will build automaticity in word reading and connected text fluency! They may also struggle with sound/symbol practice to help them decode words when reading. Basic reading skills and phonics instruction are building blocks to your child's reading progress!