Do you have a child who is struggling to read? Has your child’s teacher commented that s/he is having difficulty paying attention in school? While speaking comes naturally to almost all children, reading does not. Reading is akin to code cracking – understanding how words are broken into sounds and how we use letters and letter patterns to reflect those sounds.
Reading problems can show up in children as early as kindergarten, when children are learning to map sounds with letters. Often, attention problems are reading problems in disguise. Watch for:
- delay in speaking
- difficulties in pronouncing words
- avoidance of reading (*however, children with reading problems typically love it if you read to them!)
- difficulty learning and/or writing the alphabet
- difficulty recognizing and naming letters
- difficulty blending sounds together (for example, tr in the word train)
By grade 1, struggling readers may seem to be learning their alphabet and know some words, but reading print proceeds extremely slowly.
By grade 2 children with reading problems are already falling significantly behind and by grade 3, the age when children are typically referred for psychological testing, the window for effective reading support is closing quickly.
At The Vowel House we offer systematic, sequential phonics and phonemic awareness instruction to help children crack the code and improve their reading fluency. Children usually show a marked improvement in reading ability (and enjoyment!) within eight sessions.
If your child dislikes reading, is struggling to make sense of print or is having trouble paying attention in class, contact us for a free 30 minute evaluation.
Better reading is right through the door!