Teaching Kids to Read: Part One and Two
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Q: My six-year-old son has been struggling with learning how to read. He's been tested which shows that there's really not a clear reason why he shouldn't be able to learn. How can we help him without constantly nagging? Now that it's mandatory that I work from home, I'll have more time to try to help.
If you haven't had your son's hearing checked by a qualified hearing specialist, think about getting it done. Our daughter had the same problem and her teacher suggested that we get her hearing tested. Our daughter's tests showed that she indeed had hearing loss. She's doing quite well now and has a whole new outlook on learning.- L. P. in Dallas, TX
To learn to read a child must master explicit phonics skills in an orderly way: Phonetic Awareness – Say the name of someone in the family, leaving off the last sound, have your son finish it. Using just one syllable words, he can slowly sound out the word for a picture you show but don't use letter names, just sounds. Make sure he understands the meaning of the word. Visual Discrimination - He must learn to identify in random order all the capital and small letters in the alphabet. Note the ones he knows and does not know. Have him write the letters on paper, in the air, in clay, etc., saying the names of the letters. Because all kids come to school knowing the alphabet song, make use of that by having him point to the letters as he sings it. Auditory Discrimination - He must learn the sounds that all the consonants make, including the digraphs like sh (the hush letters), ch, th, wh and ph and learn both the long and short sounds that all the vowels in he alphabet make, as well as vowel sounds like ow (the pinch letters), ou, oi and the vowels followed by r, like ar, er, ir, or and ur. After he has started to learn some of the consonant and vowel sounds, he has to start to learn how to blend those letter sounds together slowly to read one-syllable words. He can later learn how to sound out multi-syllable words when each syllable has its own vowel sound. After he learns to sound out words well, he should only sound words out if he cannot read it. This helps develop fluency. After the child is well along mastering the early phonics skills, he should start memorizing the sight words in systematic order because they are usually arranged in the order of the most frequently used in language to the least frequently used. By the end of grade three he should be able to read all 200 Dolch sight words.- Joanne F. Farley in Florissant, MO
I have found that having a child write and then read their own words makes reading more meaningful to the child. The child can hand write a letter to a family member or friend. This would be good now as we are all social distancing. Help the child by showing them how to correctly spell the word. For frequently used words, you can create a dictionary with your child. They can write the word under the correct letter and can then find how to spell the words independently. Once the letter is written, have your child read the letter back to you a few times before you send it. Stories can also be written and illustrated.- Beth Logan in Granite, IL
Be sure your little guy knows the sounds of each letter of the alphabet. Take him through each letter. Put a check by the letters he says correctly. Tell him the sound of the letter is not the name of the letter. For example, the sound of B is not B, rather it's buh. Do this for each one through the alphabet. If he can say the sound of each letter correctly then great! Then start on the long vowels (easiest) and short vowels (harder) especially the short e and short i. These two do not sound the same. Get all the phonics workbooks you can find at the dollar store. Start with the first grade phonics. Look for pages where the letter y is included since it can be also act as a vowel sometimes. For example, BABY equals the long E and FLY equals the long i. When y is first in a word like yes, yellow, yo-yo, yard, etc., it is a consonant. He needs phonics no matter what.- Jeannette Dowling in Manchester, MO
Our daughter had the same problem. Although the tests that the school did on her came out fine, she still had challenges. Finally, we had her eyes examined by a specialist and he confirmed that she needed glasses. Once she got her new glasses, she was much more into learning how to read and many other things. Have your son take a thorough eye exam and see if that might be a part of his problem.- Nicole K. in Boise, ID
Now that we're all pretty much staying at home, it's the perfect time to research online courses and help with homework and specific topics on reading. Most of these guidelines can be downloaded and printed for free. If there is a charge, just skip it and find another one. Try to make it as fun as possible.- Jim M. in San Francisco, CA
From Jodie: Dr. Edward William Dolch developed the Dolch sight word list in the 1930s and 40s. It has 220 “service words.” Once he masters this list, it makes reading much easier, because he can focus his attention on the remaining words. Check out www.dolchsightwords.org/ for more info.
Can you help?
My husband and I do not want children and we are truly tired of trying to explain why as well as feeling guilty. What's a tactful way of telling our friends, family and even strangers that we think this is the best decision for us?
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