Why do Children Struggle to Read and How to Guide Them?

Some kids have a learning disability that makes reading difficult to learn. Others come to school without the literacy experiences they need to become readers. Some children struggle because they've received poor or inadequate reading instruction. When these and other risk factors are identified early, many children's reading difficulties can be prevented.

Six Reasons Why Kids Struggle With Reading

1. Difficulty recognizing the individual sounds in spoken words (phonemes). The ability to recognize and play with speech sounds is called phonemic awareness.

2. Difficulty sounding out written words (decoding) and recognizing familiar word parts.

3. Difficulty understanding what is being read. Limited vocabulary and background knowledge contribute to lower levels of reading comprehension.

4. Limited English language skills.

5. Limited experience with print and books.

6. Instruction that doesn't meet an individual child's needs. For example, a child with dyslexia may need additional explicit (step-by-step) instruction, provided in a carefully planned sequence.

6 Ways to Support a Struggling Reader

There’s a lot of information here, but I feel it can all be summed up with these SIX things:

1. FIND THE “HOLES” AND BEGIN INSTRUCTION THERE.

Find where the confusion begins.

Maybe they’re missing key elements (like phonological and phonemic awareness). Research has stated that as much as 85%-90% of struggling learners are missing key phonemic awareness skills, so it’s a good place to start!

Maybe there are holes in their phonics skills.

Don’t skip ahead and start teaching where a struggling reader “should” be. Reading, phonics, and spelling all depend on important skills. And if those skills are missing, you’ll be frustrating both you and your learner.

2. BUILD THEIR CONFIDENCE.

Most struggling readers, especially older ones, know that they struggle. They feel defeated and frustrated. And it comes out in words in phrases like, “I hate reading.”

To top it off, we often give them books and work at their frustration level, compounding the problem. Helping them find “just right” books, even if it means backing up one or two levels, can also help build their confidence.

We can also help build confidence by pointing out what they do WELL.

3. DON’T LEAVE THEM GUESSING.

Struggling readers don’t always do the best at “reading between the lines” with phonics, spelling, reading, or comprehension. You need to make your teaching explicit. This means SHOWING them precisely what to do and how to do it. Spell it out for them step-by-step.

What seems natural to us isn’t always so natural to a struggling reader.

4. MODEL THE STRATEGIES.

This goes along with being explicit in your teaching.

But I want to take it a step further. Show them that even people who are “good” at reading make mistakes.

Struggling readers often think that only they struggle or make mistakes. In reality, we all make reading mistakes sometimes. It’s what we do with those mistakes that matter.

5. GIVE THEM TIME TO PRACTICE WITH YOUR HELP.

We can often be tempted to model the strategies or skills and expect struggling readers to jump in independently. But there’s one more step we need to include.

It’s called guided practice. This is when we become more of a coach as learners try things WITH our help.

6. MAKE IT MULTI-SENSORY.

Our instruction needs to include visual, kinesthetic, AND auditory activities. The most effective way of teaching is to integrate ALL THREE AT ONE TIME when possible.