5 Ways to Tell if Your Child Needs Phonics for Struggling Readers
by Mary Follin
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If you're child is in kindergarten, first, or second grade and does not seem to be catching on to reading concepts, you may want to consider that your child needs phonics for struggling readers.
Does the following story sound anything like your child? On the first day of first grade, Maggie couldn’t wait to go to school. She had always loved books, and this year, she was finally going to learn how to read. From the beginning, reading was her favorite subject. But somewhere around the middle of the second semester, Maggie stopped talking about reading. Her interest in books waned, and her enthusiasm for practicing letters wore off. By the end of second grade, Maggie professed to ‘hate’ school. Her reading skills appeared to be stuck at an earlier age, and her mother had to struggle to get her to practice at home. The teacher recommended they spend time on reading skills (at least twenty minutes a day), but Maggie’s mom felt lucky if she was able to get her daughter to sit still for five. What happened to my happy little girl? Maggie’s mom wondered each night after tucking Maggie in. |
If your child is showing signs of frustration with reading, check out phonics for struggling readers.
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If you’re a parent with a struggling reader, you know the heartbreak of watching your child’s devastation: feelings of low self-worth, crying over homework assignments, and disengaging from learning altogether. You also know what it’s like to search frantically for something to do about it. For most parents, that journey often begins with trying to figure out what’s going on with phonics, which frankly, has gotten kind of confusing.
We’re all hearing about phonics in schools—some schools rely on it quite a bit, others don’t. You may have heard that recent studies are indicating that phonics is the best way for most children to learn how to read, so the question you might be asking is: “Does my child’s school use phonics to teach reading?”
To add to the confusion, most schools are likely to answer that question with a resounding ‘yes.’ After all, phonics is fundamental to the English language; it’s impossible to teach reading without relying somewhat on phonics. So how do you know if your child is getting the type of phonics instruction he or she needs?
Here are five ways to figure out whether or not your child is learning to read with a phonics-based approach:
1. The first thing to do is ask.
While phonics is part of most (if not all) English-language reading programs, what you’re looking for is a direct-instruction, systematic, phonics-based approach. Simply put, this means that the children are taught sounds, patterns, and rules, which they then use to decode words. If your child's school is not using a direct-instruction, phonics-based approach, your child is most likely not being taught to read in a way that relies heavily on phonics.
2. When your child gets stuck on a word, does he or she try to sound it out?
If your child relies on the story context or the pictures to figure out a harder word—or tries to guess—he or she is most likely not being taught with a direct-instruction, phonics-based approach.
3. Check out your child’s classroom and homework assignments.
Do the words on the walls look easy, repetitive? Are the sentences in your child’s homework full of words with lots of repeating patterns? (e.g., sleigh, weigh, neighbor) If so, good! That’s what learning to read with phonics should look like.
4. Are you confused when you try and help your child with homework?
If the presentation isn’t making sense to you, your child is probably right there with you. You should see reading concepts start with extremely beginning and easy words. Until your child has mastered these, lessons shouldn’t progress to a higher level of difficulty (harder words!)
5. Does your child use the first letter of a word to ‘guess’ what the word is?
Some approaches do use the sounds of the letters as a significant clue. But if your child is only picking out a few sounds rather than building an entire word by sounding it out, the school system is most likely not using a phonics-based approach.
While not all struggling readers are missing phonics, it’s important to eliminate it as a possible cause. And the good news? If your child is missing out on phonics, it’s easy to learn at any age. Phonics for struggling readers is introduced pretty much the same for everybody, which will mean your struggling reader will need to be willing to go back to the 'baby steps.' But don't worry about this; if phonics for struggling readers is what your child needs, you'll be amazed how quickly your child catches on once you introduce phonics.
We’re all hearing about phonics in schools—some schools rely on it quite a bit, others don’t. You may have heard that recent studies are indicating that phonics is the best way for most children to learn how to read, so the question you might be asking is: “Does my child’s school use phonics to teach reading?”
To add to the confusion, most schools are likely to answer that question with a resounding ‘yes.’ After all, phonics is fundamental to the English language; it’s impossible to teach reading without relying somewhat on phonics. So how do you know if your child is getting the type of phonics instruction he or she needs?
Here are five ways to figure out whether or not your child is learning to read with a phonics-based approach:
1. The first thing to do is ask.
While phonics is part of most (if not all) English-language reading programs, what you’re looking for is a direct-instruction, systematic, phonics-based approach. Simply put, this means that the children are taught sounds, patterns, and rules, which they then use to decode words. If your child's school is not using a direct-instruction, phonics-based approach, your child is most likely not being taught to read in a way that relies heavily on phonics.
2. When your child gets stuck on a word, does he or she try to sound it out?
If your child relies on the story context or the pictures to figure out a harder word—or tries to guess—he or she is most likely not being taught with a direct-instruction, phonics-based approach.
3. Check out your child’s classroom and homework assignments.
Do the words on the walls look easy, repetitive? Are the sentences in your child’s homework full of words with lots of repeating patterns? (e.g., sleigh, weigh, neighbor) If so, good! That’s what learning to read with phonics should look like.
4. Are you confused when you try and help your child with homework?
If the presentation isn’t making sense to you, your child is probably right there with you. You should see reading concepts start with extremely beginning and easy words. Until your child has mastered these, lessons shouldn’t progress to a higher level of difficulty (harder words!)
5. Does your child use the first letter of a word to ‘guess’ what the word is?
Some approaches do use the sounds of the letters as a significant clue. But if your child is only picking out a few sounds rather than building an entire word by sounding it out, the school system is most likely not using a phonics-based approach.
While not all struggling readers are missing phonics, it’s important to eliminate it as a possible cause. And the good news? If your child is missing out on phonics, it’s easy to learn at any age. Phonics for struggling readers is introduced pretty much the same for everybody, which will mean your struggling reader will need to be willing to go back to the 'baby steps.' But don't worry about this; if phonics for struggling readers is what your child needs, you'll be amazed how quickly your child catches on once you introduce phonics.
Phonics for Struggling Readers. Try Our 6 STEP Program for Free!
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Founder and creator of Teach Your Child to Read™, Mary Follin was a systems engineer with IBM early in her career. Over the course of her career, she has written software manuals and conducted a variety of corporate trainings in multiple industries. She also wrote Ethyr, which won the the Moonbeam Children's Book Award and the Gertrude Warner Book Award. Mary currently writes a column titled ASK MOM, an advice column featured every other Friday in Fredericksburg Parent & Family magazine. ASK MOM won a 2021 Parenting Media Association award.
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