by Lorinda K. F. Newton

In Part 1 , I listed three Facebook posts from homeschool moms seeking advice on teaching their children to read. These moms focused on teaching methods. But their children’s issues may require more than a curriculum change. Then I covered different philosophies as to when children should start reading.

In Part 2, I’ll discuss why some children might be struggling to learn and when to seek a specialist.

Late Bloomers?

Unlike the children described in Part 1, who learned to read at their own rate and continued to read well, other children frequently misread or stop to sound out words. Fluency evades them.

Some studies claim late bloomers are a myth. They give two reasons: poor instruction in phonics and disabilities. Lacking prereading skills, such as exposure to a broad vocabulary, complicated syntax, and a wide knowledge base, may cause children to develop reading problems.

Weak Phonetic Skills

A Reading Rockets blog post titled “Waiting Rarely Works: Late Bloomers Usually Just Wilt” argues that late readers never catch up, basing this conclusion on three longitudinal studies. These claim that struggling readers usually have a skill problem, not a developmental problem. Poor readers lack the critical skill of phonemic awareness. 

The main difference between the two theories is that the developmental lag theory posited that difficulties in learning to read would fade as the brain matured—early, urgent intervention was not necessary. In contrast, the skill deficit theory claimed that waiting wouldn’t work; children wouldn’t pick up these skills unless they were taught directly and intensively. In fact, waiting would be harmful, as it condemned children to falling further behind (“Waiting Rarely Works”).

Another study (Francis et al., 1996) ended the developmental lag theory. By following students from first to ninth grade, it came to this conclusion.

But the data clearly demonstrated that, on average, neither the low-achieving nor the reading disabled-discrepant students ever caught up to their peers who were not reading impaired. All students’ reading improved quickly in grades one to six, but then the rate of improvement slowed.

Early Intervention Needed

Joseph K. Torgesen, professor of psychology and education, stated that based on several studies, “Children who are poor readers at the end of first grade almost never acquire average-level reading skills by the end of elementary school.”

Those who remain poor readers by third grade never reach average levels of fluency because they don’t get enough opportunities to practice reading in the upper grades.

Children who are delayed in the development of phonemic awareness have a very difficult time making sense out of “phonics” instruction, and they certainly have little chance to notice the phonemic patterns in written words on their own. A simple way to say this is that for individual children, phonemic awareness is what makes phonics instruction meaningful. If a child has little awareness that even simple words like cat and car are composed of small “chunks” that are combined in different ways to make words, our alphabetic way of writing makes no sense—Joseph K. Torgensen.

In fact, 90 percent of poor readers don’t catch up.

Therefore, your children must be explicitly taught word-level skills such as phonemic awareness and decoding. Use a true phonogram-based program such as SWR. For this very reason, I frequently direct homeschool parents to Spell to Write and Read. Other quality programs also exist, but beware of the phony phonics programs.

Unlike public school teachers, homeschoolers can select their own curricula. If you have a child in a government school, I advise you to invest in your children by teaching them phonics at home. They won’t get it at school.

In addition to phonics, reading comprehension requires direct instruction as well. As your children’s teacher, ask them comprehension questions (think 5Ws and H) after reading a passage. Also, explain how they need to ask themselves such questions while reading. Then they can draw information from the text. To train my children to do this, I used The Reading Detective.

Reading aloud to your children from various topics and books above their reading level will also improve their reading comprehension. This will provide a broad knowledge base children need to connect new material to.

Is It a Learning Disability?

If you feel that your child is not progressing in reading, follow your instincts and first have your physician examine your child. The doctor may have your child’s speech evaluated or his vision and/or hearing tested. Mispronounced words will hinder a child’s ability to match the correct sounds with the letters. Your child may have perfect vision or hearing, but his brain may process information incorrectly. Therapy can help correct a vision processing disorder or an audio processing disorder.

If your child doesn’t have any medical issues, review this checklist to determine whether your child should be evaluated for a learning disability.

ANW’s Special Ed Therapists

Three staff members of Academy Northwest can assist special needs students.

Maggie Dail, M.A., offers this checklist for parents who suspect a reading disorder:

Does your child have trouble

1. Recognizing words accurately?
2. Reading a sentence smoothly?
3. Spelling?
4. Decoding words?
5. With below-average language skills?
6. Maintaining focus during reading time.
7. With a reading level that is far below that of his overall intelligence.

Dail added that many children with a reading disability often have

1. A mixed dominance
2. Low auditory processing
3. Maybe other difficulties

Christina South said, “Knowing if a student needs special help is a challenge,” and recommended going through a list of questions like the ones above. She added, “Asking for an evaluation if you aren’t sure what to do is a great option. Generally an evaluation needs to be completed in person so that all the different factors can be considered.”

In response to the Facebook post about the six-year-old who struggled to remember his letters, she recommended that he get evaluated. Regarding the nine-year-old, South says sounding out words is a good practice and one that students often stop doing too soon. “The ability to break a word down into sounds is critical for spelling success.”

ANW’s third special education teacher is Ashley Nichols.

Take Action

A dizzying number of reading curricula exist, and some may not work for you or your child, and you may need to switch to another. If you do, make sure that the curriculum is a true phonics program. To be a strong reader, a child needs a firm phonics foundation. Even older children may benefit from intensive phonics instruction to improve their reading skills.

But if learning phonics doesn’t improve your child’s reading, get your child evaluated for a medical disorder or learning disability. This may lead you to a specialist who can help get your child back on the reading track.

Don’t lose heart if your child still runs into difficulties. If your child struggles to read even in his high school years, use videos and audio books. The computer or phone can read some digital books aloud as well. Colleges will provide accommodations for some reading deficits.

In closing, check out this article, “Famous Authors Who Overcame Struggles to Read and Write.” Though watching your child struggle in school is distressing, there is hope. Many overcome their challenges and grow into the adults God planned for them to be.

Lorinda K. F. Newton began homeschooling her children in 2004, and her family joined Academy Northwest in 2014. Her family lives on beautiful Whidbey Island north of Seattle, Washington. She writes about faith, culture, and governing from a biblical worldview at Lorinda’s Ponderings. ©2021 by Lorinda K. F. Newton.