2 Signs Your Child May Need Reading Assistance

 

Listening and understanding are as important as deciphering what is written on the page when learning to read. Children are exposed to a wide range of words by listening to stories. This helps kids expand their vocabulary and increase their listening comprehension, which is important when they begin to read. However, as children learn to read, there may be some difficulties that they encounter on their journey. As parents/caregivers, it’s important to know the indicators of reading difficulties and what can be done to improve. Here are 2 signs that your child may need additional reading assistance. 

Difficulty Sounding Out Words 

For some readers, there are words they may be able to watch and ‘know’. This can be from sight words, high-frequency words or even words they’ve been taught to ‘sound out’ at an earlier stage. What happens when they encounter an unfamiliar word? Are they able to sound it out? Are they able to identify the letters and letter sounds that make up that word? There are some students that are able to and with practice are able to identify the word. However, there are others that may have difficulties identifying the letters, identifying the sounds to match those letters or blending the sounds. It is not uncommon for a child to see the word ‘pick’ and maybe say ‘ball’ or ‘jump’. This can be an indication that your child needs reading assistance to learn letter recognition, sounds recognition, phonics and phonemic awareness. 

Difficulty Understanding What Was Read 

Some students are excellent ‘readers’, as they are able to fluently read a passage at their grade level. However, when asked about the main idea of the passage or questions relating to the passage, they struggle immensely. This can indicate issues with reading comprehension. Understanding and interpreting what is read is referred to as comprehension. Children must be able to decipher what they read, draw connections between what they read and what they already know, and think deeply about what they have read in order to comprehend written information effectively. The significance of what is read is enhanced through comprehension. When words on a page aren't just words, but concepts and ideas, reading comprehension emerges. Reading is more entertaining, engaging, and educational when you understand what you're reading. It is required to excel in school and in life. Students who struggle immensely with reading comprehension may need additional reading assistance to assist them with reading comprehension skills.

At The Caribbean Academy for Reading Intervention and Development, we offer an Individual Reading Assistance Program that assists struggling readers to build skills in: 

• Sight words and high-frequency words 

• Sounds recognition 

• Reading comprehension 

• Letter and word recognition 

• Phonics and phonemic awareness 

Our Reading Assistance Programme is designed to teach the foundational skills of reading to children with significant academic challenges, empowering them to achieve grade-level proficiency. Our dedicated tutors help struggling readers understand the basic mechanics of reading and help them develop critical reading skills that will help them develop a lifelong love of reading. 

Target Audience: Struggling readers between the ages of 5 years to 10 years. 

Persons interested in our Individual Reading Assistance Program can contact us at 1-868-474-9819. 

Chrystal Murray 

Reading Interventionist 

1-868-474-9819