{"id":10531,"date":"2018-10-16T07:29:01","date_gmt":"2018-10-16T07:29:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.dyslexiadaily.com\/blog\/?p=10531"},"modified":"2026-03-30T07:39:11","modified_gmt":"2026-03-30T07:39:11","slug":"5-ways-to-help-a-child-who-is-struggling-with-reading","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.dyslexiadaily.com\/blog\/5-ways-to-help-a-child-who-is-struggling-with-reading\/","title":{"rendered":"5 Ways to help a child who is struggling with reading"},"content":{"rendered":"<style> .indented { padding-left: 25pt; } <\/style>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" style=\"display: none;\" src=\"https:\/\/www.dyslexiadaily.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/thumb.jpg\" alt=\"\" \/><strong><span style=\"font-size: 200%; font-family: Arial; line-height: 32px; color: #3366ff;\">Children of all ages can struggle with reading. Here are 5 ways you can get your child started on the reading process.<\/span><\/strong><br \/>\n&nbsp;<br \/>\n<strong><span style=\"font-size: 180%; font-family: Arial;\">1. Determine what is holding them back<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-size: 160%; font-family: Arial;\">The first step is to determine what is holding them back.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-size: 160%; font-family: Arial;\">Children in the classroom need to use a variety of processing skills to learn new information and skills. It is common to have strengths and weaknesses in the different areas required to process this new information.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-size: 160%; font-family: Arial;\">Children who have difficulty learning to grasp reading, spelling, writing and some areas of Math, often have weaknesses in specific processing skills.<\/span><br \/>\n&nbsp;<\/p>\n<div style=\"border: 0px solid #666666; background: #ffffe0; width: 80%; margin: 0px auto; line-height: 1.3; text-align: center;\"><span style=\"font-size: 160%; font-family: Arial;\"><em>\u201cTo be a good reader it helps to have great visual and auditory processing skills and really good <br \/>phonological processing skills.\u201d<\/em><\/span><\/div>\n<p>&nbsp;<br \/>\n<span style=\"font-size: 160%; font-family: Arial;\">Even before a child reaches school and is taught phonics, they hear phonological sounds. They hear them when we speak to them and in the rhymes and songs that we sing. When they start school, these sounds are then attached to the letters of the alphabet.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><strong><center><span style=\"font-size: 180%; font-family: Arial;\">What are these processing skills I\u2019m talking about?<\/span><\/center><\/strong><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-size: 160%; font-family: Arial;\">There are 5: Visual Processing, Auditory Processing, Phonological Processing, Executive Function and Memory skills. A child, however may experience difficulties in one or more of these 5 processing areas and to add to this, they may also have slow processing rates.<\/span><br \/>\n&nbsp;<br \/>\n<center><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-large wp-image-10532\" src=\"https:\/\/www.dyslexiadaily.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/0001-2-1024x725-1024x725.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"400\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.dyslexiadaily.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/0001-2-1024x725.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/www.dyslexiadaily.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/0001-2-1024x725-300x212.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.dyslexiadaily.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/0001-2-1024x725-768x544.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.dyslexiadaily.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/0001-2-1024x725-150x106.jpg 150w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\" \/><\/center>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-size: 160%; font-family: Arial;\">It is important here to understand that <strong>Visual<\/strong> and <strong>Auditory Processing<\/strong> isn\u2019t about the information your eyes see or your ears hear, it\u2019s about how this information is processed in the brain.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-size: 160%; font-family: Arial;\">Of course, basic hearing and sight testing are important. These tests can be used to exclude any physical deficits that may be causing issues for the child.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-size: 160%; font-family: Arial;\">Some children really struggle to hear the sounds in words and may have a <strong>Phonological Processing difficulty<\/strong>. This can also be associated with an <strong>Auditory Processing Difficulty<\/strong> since it is related to the hearing and processing side.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-size: 160%; font-family: Arial;\"><strong>Executive Processing Dysfunction<\/strong> is related to poor organisation of thoughts, possessions and completion of tasks.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-size: 160%; font-family: Arial;\"><strong>Memory Deficits<\/strong> come in many forms and can affect; short term auditory, long term auditory, short term visual, long term visual and working memory.<\/span><br \/>\n&nbsp;<\/p>\n<div style=\"border: 0px solid #666666; background: #ffffe0; width: 80%; margin: 0px auto; line-height: 1.3; text-align: center;\"><span style=\"font-size: 160%; font-family: Arial;\"><em>\u201cWorking memory is the ability to think and do and process information to produce a result.\u201d<\/em><\/span><\/div>\n<p>&nbsp;<br \/>\n<span style=\"font-size: 160%; font-family: Arial;\">Trying to identify which <strong>Memory<\/strong> issue is affecting a child can be difficult for teachers, as memory deficits can present in many forms.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-size: 160%; font-family: Arial;\">Lastly, we look at <strong>Slow Processing Rates<\/strong>.<\/span><br \/>\n&nbsp;<\/p>\n<div style=\"border: 0px solid #666666; background: #ffffe0; width: 80%; margin: 0px auto; line-height: 1.3; text-align: center;\"><span style=\"font-size: 160%; font-family: Arial;\"><em>\u201cSlow processing rates affect nearly every child with a school learning difficulty. They are the number one reason why many children require <br \/>more time on tests and exams.\u201d<\/em><\/span><\/div>\n<p>&nbsp;<br \/>\n<span style=\"font-size: 160%; font-family: Arial;\">Processing rates are related to the speed with which a child can cognitively process information to produce an answer or a result. A child with slow processing rates may be the student who finds the answer to the first question while others are already answering the second or third.<\/span><br \/>\n&nbsp;<\/p>\n<div style=\"border: 0px solid #666666; background: #ffffe0; width: 80%; margin: 0px auto; line-height: 1.3; text-align: center;\"><span style=\"font-size: 160%; font-family: Arial;\"><em>\u201cSlow processing rates do not mean a child is any less intelligent, they just process information differently.\u201d<\/em><\/span><\/div>\n<p>&nbsp;<br \/>\n<strong><span style=\"font-size: 180%; font-family: Arial;\">2. Start at the beginning<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-size: 160%; font-family: Arial;\">You need to start with the code. Remember we have talked about the <strong><em>\u2018Speech to Spelling Code\u2122\u2019<\/em><\/strong>. This is the code I designed to help children who find school difficult, to learn quickly.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-size: 160%; font-family: Arial;\">Yes, children need to know the alphabet, but more importantly they need to connect the sounds that those letters make in words. This is the bridge of support between speech and spelling<\/span>.<\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-size: 160%; font-family: Arial;\">Understanding the 46 sounds, the letters of the alphabet make, is the most important key to learning to read and spell.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-size: 160%; font-family: Arial;\">With this in mind, I wrote a song called \u2018The Alphabet Sound Song\u2019 which helps children to learn all the common sounds the letters of the alphabet make. You can find the link to this below and\u2026.Yes, it\u2019s me singing, I apologise in advance.<\/span><br \/>\n&nbsp;<br \/>\n<strong><span style=\"font-size: 180%; font-family: Arial;\">3. Create a visual, auditory, tactile, kinaesthetic and phonic code learning resource<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-size: 160%; font-family: Arial;\">Now that\u2019s a mouthful of big words!<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-size: 160%; font-family: Arial;\">Ok, so let me tell you what I mean. I created a chart with all the letters of the alphabet using; paper, sandpaper, a glue stick and a marker.<\/span><br \/>\n&nbsp;<br \/>\n<center><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.dyslexiadaily.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/thumbnail-1024x574.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"500\" class=\"alignnone size-large wp-image-10582\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.dyslexiadaily.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/thumbnail-1024x574.png 1024w, https:\/\/www.dyslexiadaily.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/thumbnail-300x168.png 300w, https:\/\/www.dyslexiadaily.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/thumbnail-768x430.png 768w, https:\/\/www.dyslexiadaily.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/thumbnail-150x84.png 150w, https:\/\/www.dyslexiadaily.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/thumbnail.png 1280w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\" \/><\/center><br \/>\n&nbsp;<span style=\"font-size: 160%; font-family: Arial;\">Here\u2019s what to do<\/span><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-size: 160%; font-family: Arial; line-height: 30px;\">Print the cursive alphabet letters in thick text. (I got this from my children\u2019s school).<\/li>\n<li style=\"font-size: 160%; font-family: Arial; line-height: 30px;\">Trace and cut out each letter from the sandpaper.<\/li>\n<li style=\"font-size: 160%; font-family: Arial; line-height: 30px;\">Glue the letters to thick paper or cardboard. (A4 or A3 Size).<\/li>\n<li style=\"font-size: 160%; font-family: Arial; line-height: 30px;\">Using a marker start with a dot and an arrow to indicate where to start and the direction the letter is written.<\/li>\n<li style=\"font-size: 160%; font-family: Arial; line-height: 30px;\">Have your child trace the letter (visual).<\/li>\n<li style=\"font-size: 160%; font-family: Arial; line-height: 30px;\">Say the letter (auditory).<\/li>\n<li style=\"font-size: 160%; font-family: Arial; line-height: 30px;\">Feel the letter (tactile).<\/li>\n<li style=\"font-size: 160%; font-family: Arial; line-height: 30px;\">Trace the letter (kinaesthetic or movement plus muscle memory).<\/li>\n<li style=\"font-size: 160%; font-family: Arial; line-height: 30px;\">Say the sound (phonic).<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><span style=\"font-size: 160%; font-family: Arial;\">This is just one way to create a code prompt, so let your imagination run wild. Check out the Facebook Live video on this topic for some more ideas. Here\u2019s the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=_HHXDql3QPk&amp;list=PLQfAylH7flX-dbg5qLM4LUdAIj0zSs27l&amp;index=3&amp;t=6s\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><strong>link<\/strong><\/a>.<\/span><br \/>\n&nbsp;<br \/>\n<strong><span style=\"font-size: 180%; font-family: Arial;\">4. Read to them and along with them as much as you can<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-size: 160%; font-family: Arial;\">As parents and teachers, we all have time limits, so I recommend you do this as much as you can.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-size: 160%; font-family: Arial;\">Your child will love: a) a great story that is age appropriate and b) sitting next to you and either reading the same book or getting two of the same books and reading along with you at the same time.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-size: 160%; font-family: Arial;\"><strong>Tip#<\/strong> You can always order two of the same books from the library.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-size: 160%; font-family: Arial;\">If you own the book, then you can make the experience even more interactive and fun, and that brings us to the 5th way to help a struggling reader.<br \/>\n<\/span><br \/>\n<strong><span style=\"font-size: 180%; font-family: Arial;\">5. Make the shared reading experience fun<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-size: 160%; font-family: Arial;\">When a child is struggling to read, everything about reading is a drag, it can be stressful and make them feel like a failure. We need to turn that around and make reading fun.<\/span><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-size: 160%; font-family: Arial; line-height: 30px;\">Use books that have age appropriate content but a phonological age closer to their actual reading age.\n<\/li><li style=\"font-size: 160%; font-family: Arial; line-height: 30px;\">When you read, get your child or student to use things like clicking of fingers to indicate commas, clapping of hands to indicate full stops. You can be creative and use whistles or other things.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p class=\"indented\"><span style=\"font-size: 160%; font-family: Arial;\">This works because the kids think it\u2019s fun and it means they are tracking the words.<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"indented\"><span style=\"font-size: 160%; font-family: Arial;\">This works whether you are reading or they are.<\/span><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-size: 160%; font-family: Arial; line-height: 30px;\">Identify a word that is consistently in the book and highlight it. This might be a character, the name of a place or a sight word. Make this their word!<\/li>\n<li style=\"font-size: 160%; font-family: Arial; line-height: 30px;\">Every time they see this word they have to say it. Add more and more words as you go. <span style=\"color: #3366ff;\">Use<\/span> <span style=\"color: #993366;\">lots<\/span> <span style=\"color: #ff6600;\">of<\/span> <span style=\"color: #339966;\">funky<\/span> <span style=\"color: #cc99ff;\">highlighter<\/span> <span style=\"color: #800080;\">colours<\/span>!<\/li>\n<li style=\"font-size: 160%; font-family: Arial; line-height: 30px;\">You start reading and then get them to read. Start with just a few words each and progress to sentences or paragraphs and then to pages.\n<\/li><\/ul>\n<p><span style=\"font-size: 160%; font-family: Arial;\">Your child will enjoy your undivided attention. Get reading with them! As your child gets older, they will never forget that you did this with them.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-size: 160%; font-family: Arial;\">That\u2019s the 5 ways to help a child who is struggling with reading\u2026 now here\u2019s a bonus one.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><strong><span style=\"font-size: 180%; font-family: Arial;\">6. Create their very own reading book.<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-size: 160%; font-family: Arial;\">When I was asked to help a struggling reading group of first graders, I started by getting them to create their very own reading book.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-size: 160%; font-family: Arial;\">They dictated a sentence and drew a picture on each page. These were their own words. We read these books every session. They read them at home or to anyone who would listen, including the family pets.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-size: 160%; font-family: Arial;\">This was the first book many of them could actually read and it made them feel like the other kids.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-size: 160%; font-family: Arial;\">I am passionate about helping kids to learn to read and spell. I love watching children shine and I love seeing children with so much potential finally achieve. <\/span><br \/>\n&nbsp;<\/p>\n<div style=\"border: 0px solid #666666; background: #ffffe0; width: 80%; margin: 0px auto; line-height: 1.3; text-align: center;\"><span style=\"font-size: 160%; font-family: Arial;\"><em>\u201cChildren who struggle with reading invariably go on to do something amazing if they leave school with their confidence intact.\u201d<\/em><\/span><\/div>\n<p>&nbsp;<br \/>\n<span style=\"font-size: 160%; font-family: Arial;\">Here are some useful links:<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-size: 160%; font-family: Arial;\">Check out the first book my son ever read on the Facebook Live video about this topic: <a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=_HHXDql3QPk&amp;list=PLQfAylH7flX-dbg5qLM4LUdAIj0zSs27l&amp;index=3&amp;t=6s\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><strong>Facebook Live<\/strong><\/a><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-size: 160%; font-family: Arial;\">You can also view the video on YouTube <a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=_HHXDql3QPk&#038;list=PLQfAylH7flX-dbg5qLM4LUdAIj0zSs27l&#038;index=3&#038;t=7s\" rel=\"noopener\" target=\"_blank\"><strong>here<\/strong><\/a>.<\/span><br \/>\n&nbsp;<br \/>\n<center><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.dyslexiadaily.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/book.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"400\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-10550\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.dyslexiadaily.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/book.jpg 976w, https:\/\/www.dyslexiadaily.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/book-300x225.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.dyslexiadaily.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/book-768x576.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.dyslexiadaily.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/book-150x113.jpg 150w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 976px) 100vw, 976px\" \/><\/center><br \/>\n&nbsp;<span style=\"font-size: 160%; font-family: Arial;\">Here is The Alphabet Sound Song: <a href=\"https:\/\/www.dyslexiadaily.com\/blog\/the-alphabet-sound-song\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><strong>The Alphabet Sound Song\u00a9<\/strong><\/a><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Children of all ages can struggle with reading. Here are 5 ways you can get your child started on the reading process. &nbsp; 1. Determine what is holding them back The first step is to determine what is holding them back. Children in the classroom need to use a variety... <br \/><a class=\"moretag\" href=\"https:\/\/www.dyslexiadaily.com\/blog\/5-ways-to-help-a-child-who-is-struggling-with-reading\/\">Continue reading...<\/a>","protected":false},"author":46,"featured_media":15519,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[100],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-10531","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-reading-spelling"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.dyslexiadaily.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10531","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.dyslexiadaily.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.dyslexiadaily.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.dyslexiadaily.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/46"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.dyslexiadaily.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=10531"}],"version-history":[{"count":55,"href":"https:\/\/www.dyslexiadaily.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10531\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":10597,"href":"https:\/\/www.dyslexiadaily.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10531\/revisions\/10597"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.dyslexiadaily.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/15519"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.dyslexiadaily.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=10531"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.dyslexiadaily.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=10531"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.dyslexiadaily.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=10531"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}