Learning To Read - Beginning Reading Skills

Learning to Read Sometimes Takes More Time

Just like some kids grow later than their friends, some readers take a bit more time to start reading than their classmates. Taking action now is critical for a young reader who is late developing.  These students need extra time and help to catch up to avoid further struggle or worse, labeling by teachers and schools.

Children learning to read must first develop their understanding of letters and sounds. This phonemic awareness (how sounds work together) and reading fluency will lead to later vocabulary development and greater comprehension skills.

Teachers will often suggest an early reading intervention method (ERIM) for students at risk of retention in school. Though this sounds like a disability, young readers often struggle because they have not developed at the same rate as others.

How to Help Young Readers

If you have a young reader struggling, your first steps should be to focus on the alphabetic principle and phonological awareness. Learning to read requires mastering those skills before fluency and connected text can be considered a goal. Too often, parents will rush the fluency aspect before the underlying fundamental skills have been developed (fluency is nearly impossible without the first two building blocks).

Pushing for fluency too soon into the process can frustrate parents and children, causing a lack of desire by both to continue working on these essential skills.

Students who experience early reading difficulty can continue to experience failure in later grades and in life. This struggle is often referred to as the "Matthew Effect," a rich get richer while the poor get poorer phenomenon. Those that acquire early reading skills have an unlimited ability to grow their knowledge. Those who fail to develop early skills fall further and further behind. By the later elementary years, those who experience severe reading failure are often labeled and taken out of mainstream classes.

The Engenius Emerging Reader curriculum assesses your child to determine which level your child can read. Rather than focusing on age or grade level, we determine the skill level, then adjust our program to match the specific needs. We default to our Level I program for students who struggle with letters and sounds.

If a student is competent with letters and sounds, we place that student at Level II, where we still review fundamentals but the focus shifts to fluency.  When a student has mastered fluency, the next phase is to work on increased vocabulary development and comprehension.

If you feel your young reader is struggling or have questions about the reading process, contact us today for a free assessment.

Please call 844-56-GENIUS or visit your nearest Engenius Learning Center for help with your emerging reader.

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