Struggling Readers : Lack of Comprehension Skills

 

‘My child has a reading problem’, this is a common yet vague complaint. Many times our children/students may be struggling readers but we’re unable to pinpoint exactly why. It is important to note that reading is made up of many components. A student can master one component and be struggling in another and this will affect their overall reading skills. The main components of reading are:  phonics, phonemic awareness, vocabulary, fluency, and comprehension. Now, let’s look at the scenario below. 

Have you ever experienced a scenario where your child read a story or passage and you felt that their reading skills were excellent because they read fluently, but upon asking them questions about the passage, they were unable to answer? This is more common than you may think. Reading has many components and among them are fluency and comprehension. While both are important aspects of reading, they are not the same thing. You may have a child that has mastered fluency and they are able to articulate written text with ease but struggle with comprehension. That is, they struggle to fully understand what was read. 

Understanding and interpreting what was read are components of comprehension. The capacity to analyze written text, comprehend its meaning, and integrate it with prior knowledge is known as reading comprehension. Word reading and language understanding are two interrelated skills that are necessary for reading comprehension. Children must be able to decode what they read, relate what they read to what they already know, and reflect carefully on what they have read in order to effectively understand written content.

Identifying the issue at hand is important as it helps you to really zoom in on the problem and implement the necessary strategies to improve and further develop that skill. Simply telling a child to read more often would not ammend all issues they may have with reading. Identifying the exact reading component that they are struggling with allows you to improve their skills specific to that component, which will improve their overall reading skills. 

Is your child a struggling reader? Are you unable to identify which component of reading your child struggles with? We can help! 

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 has a passion for imparting knowledge and adding value to the lives of others.

She has been an educator for over 14 years. She holds a B.A. Degree in History and Education from the University of the West Indies (UWI). She also possesses several professional certificates in Understanding Dyslexia, Successful Educational Strategies for Children with Special Needs, and Supporting Multiple Abilities through Differentiation just to name a few. She is also certified in Counselling Youth and Children and Parenting the Adolescent. Chrystal is the Founder and Principal of two academic institutions, the Caribbean Ivy League Academy and the Caribbean Academy for Reading Intervention and Development. She founded the Caribbean Academy for Reading Intervention and Development where she works assiduously with children who have reading challenges. She also uses this platform to motivate, inspire and help build confidence in the children who are in her care.

Chrystal Murray 

Reading Interventionist 

1-868-474-9819