How can you help your struggling reader?

Question

What kind of tutor do I need for my child who is behind in reading. How do I know what to look for in the type of tutoring they provide.

Answer 1

When choosing a tutor for a struggling reader, it’s important to look for someone who offers personalized instruction, uses research-based strategies, and monitors progress regularly. A good tutor won’t rely on generic worksheets. Instead, they will assess your child’s specific needs, build targeted lessons, and adjust their approach based on growth.

As a certified reading specialist and founder of Reading Through Times™, I begin with a diagnostic assessment to identify your child’s strengths and areas for improvement. From there, I create a customized plan and use regular progress checks to track gains in decoding, fluency, comprehension, and writing. Parents receive consistent updates so they know how their child is improving and what we’re focusing on next.

The best tutoring relationships are built on trust, communication, and instruction that meets your child where they are. Look for a tutor who sees your child as more than just a reader, but as a learner with potential and purpose

Answer 2

📖 How Can I Help a Struggling Reader?

If your child is having a hard time reading, don’t worry—there are many ways we can help build skills and confidence step by step.

Here’s what can really make a difference:

1. Start with Phonics – Teach the sounds letters make and how to blend them into words.
2. Practice Sight Words – Help them remember common words that don’t always follow the rules (like “the” or “said”).
3. Read Every Day – Even short daily reading builds fluency and vocabulary.
4. Use Repeated Reading – Rereading the same story builds confidence and speed.
5. Ask and Answer Questions – Talk about what was read to improve comprehension.
6. Break It Down – Focus on small parts of reading instead of rushing through.
7. Celebrate Progress – Encourage your child with praise for trying and improving!
8. Read, Read , Read- Listen to a strong Reader Reading, Read to a Friend or Adult, Reread to gain fluency and speed.

📚 Need Extra Support?

A certified reading tutor can provide personalized lessons using research-backed strategies aligned with the Science of Reading. I offer fun, focused sessions to help your child grow as a reader—step by step, at their own pace. Michele W. has just added a literacy endorsement to her teacher license with over 100 hours of specialize training. Combining this with 30 years teaching and tutoring experience makes her an expert in the field. For a free consultation for tutoring help message her today. I offer assessment including in tutoring times, individualize learning plans for each student to meet the needs of learning gaps and learning styles.

Let’s work together to build a strong reading foundation!

Answer 3

I have had the honor of working with struggling and Dyslexic readers for decades. They ranged wildly in skills and needs... as well as age. As for the tutor, I believe you need an experienced tutor who is both patient and lively - one who invites your child to the adventure and endless joy of reading. In addition, they need to understand phonics, syllable clapping, and be able to guide the child to the books they'll cherish for a lifetime. As students have fun learning about their own passions while using The Lexile parameters for guidance, even the most reluctant reader will soon want more reading adventures, and a good tutor will have plenty to share. Let me know if I can help in any way!

Answer 4

There are so many factors necessary for a student to be a "successful reader." When you see your student struggling, the first thing you should do is try to pinpoint what parts of the reading process are causing them trouble. Different tutors will use different structures and assessments to identify what your child needs help with. The one I prefer was created by Sharon Walpole and Michael McKenna in 2017. Their framework allows a teacher/tutor to administer a few simple assessments to determine what specific part of reading the student is struggling with.

Younger students may need more work on phonological awareness and word recognition. Phonological awareness instruction would include letter names/sounds and practice segmenting and blending short CVC words. Slightly older children may not need any further instruction in letter names/sounds, but may still benefit from direct instruction in decoding (segmenting and blending). This decoding instruction would still involve CVC words, but would also include words with blends, digraphs, and some simple vowel patterns (like vowel-consonant-e).

Once decoding of simple words is mastered, the focus often turns to decoding multisyllabic words and developing fluency. The development of fluency then naturally leads to the development of comprehension. However, there are ways to teach comprehension strategies if comprehension levels are not keeping pace with fluency levels.

If you are looking for a few "quick tips" on how you can best support your student when reading together, I suggest looking up the short article When Young Readers Get Stuck, by Nell Duke. This provides some easy actionable tips that you could use while reading with your student.

Answer 5

Be sure to work with someone who is addressing the "whole child" approach to your child's barriers in learning. Once a child is identified as being behind, they have been affected with low-confident and negative self-talk that should be addressed, as well as recognizing the specific skills that will support their reading needs.