How to know when a child needs help in reading

We all know how imperative it is to teach our children to read, but how do we know when to be concerned about their progress? This can be a challenging question for both parents and teachers. Are they taking a little longer than usual and we just need to wait? Was their older sibling just faster to read? Are they falling too far behind and need immediate intervention? Are they still learning English? Do they have a learning difference like ADHD or dyslexia? Are we underacting or overacting? 

Early in my teaching career  I had no idea when to be concerned, and I didn’t feel I had proper training to know. Eventually, through years of experience it became more clear when to be concerned. Unfortunately, this left many children behind before I had a “feel” for when to begin intervening and advocating for more services. Kids learning to read should be based on evidence. Now, I have more research based criteria and feel confident knowing when children need that extra support. For parents, this can be even more mystifying without a background in education.  

Here is what we know-for beginning readers the biggest predictors of success learning to read are: Phonemic Awareness and Letter Identification. “Studies have identified letter knowledge and phonemic awareness (the conscious awareness of the sounds in spoken words) as the two best school entry predictors of how well children will learn to read during their first two years in school.” (Hiebert, E.H. (1998). Every child a reader. Ann Arbor, MI: Center for the Improvement of Early Reading Achievement)

Phonemic awareness falls under the umbrella of phonological awareness. Phonological awareness is the knowledge that oral language can be divided into parts and manipulated (think syllables, word awareness, and rhyming). Phonemic awareness is a portion of this and refers more specifically to skills like: segmenting sounds (the word cat has the sounds /k/ /a/ /t/), blending sounds (/k/ /a/ /t/ put together makes the word cat), manipulation of sounds (say “cat” change the /c/ to a /b/, what word is it now? bat), and more. Phonemic awareness differs from phonics. Phonemic awareness is built auditorily by listening (without letters). Words are heard and broken into smaller units-sounds. First, students learn the meaning of sounds and how to manipulate them, then they learn the symbols to match (letters). So, if your kindergartner/first grade student or child is struggling with these types of skills they need to start having additional instruction/intervention. The earlier this is addressed the less likely students will struggle later on. Early intervention is key, and is typically not how educational systems are set up. It is up to teachers and parents to address even if the school may not want to provide extra services. 

Letter identification as a predictor of success was a surprise to me as a teacher. I originally thought it would be letter sound knowledge. It’s the sounds that make up the words, right?…I was wrong. Automatic letter identification is such a strong predictor because letter names are the sole constant property when learning to read. Letters make different sounds, or no sound at all depending on the word pattern. For example, the words “pan” and “pane” the  /p/ and /n/ sounds are the same but the “a’s” are two different sounds (one short vowel and one long vowel) and the “e” in pane has no sound. Knowing letter names with automaticity allows for a base for kids to tie the letter sounds to. This is how humans learn, we learn new concepts when we can attach them to something we already know. If your child or student is struggling with letter naming automaticity in kindergarten, and especially in first grade, they definitely need additional help to ensure they learn to read. 

When students have both phonemic awareness skills and automatic letter name identification the cognitive load to actually begin reading words is not nearly as taxing, making students much more confident and successful. 

I learned these predictors a few years into my career, and I still know some seasoned educators who have not been taught this in their training programs or through professional development. Many school systems want to wait for students to show failure (often not until 2nd or 3rd grade) before they truly intervene to help a child read. At this point it will be significantly more challenging to catch your child or student up. As teachers, we have to continue to learn and advocate for ourselves and students. As parents, you have to be willing to advocate when something seems off, even if the school or teacher says it’s fine. These predictors can help you to know if your child is struggling, additionally parents will always know their best-if you think something is off, it probably is. Teachers, we have to listen closely to parent concerns. Reading will change your child’s or student’s life. Struggling to read can lead to more than just illiteracy, it is also closely tied to many emotional issues like low self-esteem and lack of confidence often setting the stage for other larger behavioral concerns. While being a strong reader has the opposite effect, high self esteem and ongoing success in school. Let’s make sure our students are thriving in their reading!