Does your child struggle to read? All children learn differently but, for some, reading is a challenge. Read on to discover how you can determine what the cause of your child’s reading struggles may be.
(Note: This is a sponsored post. All opinions are my own. Read our disclosure policy here.)
It’s hard, as a parent, to watch your child stumble over words, lose their place and start to become reluctant to read. To understand why they are struggling we need to look at the key skills for reading:
See the letters on the page
It sounds simple, but to read we need to be able to see the letters on the page. To do this, we focus both eyes on the same letter and then track from left to right. Our eyes make small jumps from word to word as we become more confident in reading.
Some children who struggle to read don’t do this. One eye looks at one letter, the other at a different one. Their eyes ‘wobble’ as they try to focus and make rapid eye movements.
Their brain receives so many different images and has to choose which one to use. It’s caused by weak eye muscles.
You can tell if your child has this if they reverse letters like b’s and d’s, skips words and lines or lose their place when they read.
Hear the letter sounds in words
Called phonological awareness, to read you need to hear that goat is made up of g-oa-t. Without this skill, you can’t use phonics to decode words, having to rely on memorising word shapes instead.
While memorising words may be ok to begin with, there are a lot of words in the English language and it’s impossible to remember them all.
Phonological awareness is actually caused by neurological differences in their brains. The good news is this can be improved by phonological awareness training.
Blending letter sounds
Blending letter sounds or ‘phonics’ is the best way to learn to read. Teaching your child to sound out words, rather than remember the word shape, allows them to decode new words in the future. But, to be able to use phonics to read, you need to have good phonological awareness.
Good Vocabulary
Of course, to be able to read well, you need a good vocabulary so you can understand what you’ve read.
If your child is struggling to read, chances are they have a vision problem and poor phonological awareness. The great news is there’s a unique program from Dyslexia Gold that helps struggling readers overcome these issues.
The first step is to strengthen the eye muscles so they can see what they are supposed to be reading. Engaging Eyes is an online vision training program that uses games to gently exercise the eyes.
Once they can see the letters on the page, Fluency Builder improves their phonological awareness. It’s more than phonics or the Orton-Gillingham program as it goes beyond phonics.
Using these programs, children’s reading age improves by, on average, 12 months in 12 weeks.
Fluency Builder – Without good phonological awareness, you can’t use phonics to read.
Engaging Eyes – Teaches children to focus both eyes on the same letter, then track across the page.
Spelling Tutor – Personalised, structured, program teaches children to spell over 1,000 words.
They’re quick to play too, just 10 minutes a day is all it takes. You can find out more about Dyslexia Gold and the science behind at their website: www.DyslexiaGold.com.
Homeschoolers get a 20% discount on already low prices. Check it out today and see how quickly you can help your child learn how to read and improve spelling!
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Carrie Fernandez is the founder of Homeschool Giveaways and owner of Daily Skill Building. She has been homeschooling for over 18 years, has two girls and works side by side at home with her awesome husband. She has been saved by grace, fails daily, but continues to strive toward the prize of the high calling of being a daughter of the Most High God.
