Why Bright Children Can Struggle With Reading and How To Help
Failing to learn to read is a devasting blow to a young child, and it is usually quite unnecessary. The underlying reason why many bright children find reading hard is that the early reading books they use encourage the wrong techniques. The warning signs are easy to spot.
Luckily, we have found it quick and easy to fix.
How To Spot The Problem
Things often start out well. A child will learn most of the alphabet fine and then even a few words without seeming to have a problem.
As the child starts reading simple books, a habit of guessing develops. Usually the guess will make sense, but will be nothing like the actual word on the page.
As the child moves up to higher levels of books, it can seem that his or her reading ability is actually going the other way.
Eventually the child's confidence can collapse and you will see massive resistance to any further reading.
This can become a permanent situation, without the right help. That will destroy the child's changes of reaching anything like his or her full potential. And yet we find it can usually be fixed in a few weeks.
The Underlying Issue
Reading is a complex task and it is natural for a child to use whatever approach seems easiest. If your child has a good visual memory, then remembering words by sight seems the best option.
Any child will almost certainly be being taught phonics in the classroom. But, in a whole class setting, it is easy to be quietly baffled, without the teacher really knowing or having the time to work through it one-on-one in any case.
Now the concept behind most early reading books actually encourages this memorisation approach. They use very few words which get repeated a lot.
But, in reality, the child is not reading at all, but using a shortcut. And is travelling down a blind alley with no exit.
The child needs guidance out of this situation and onto the right path.
How To Fix It
The most important thing is to help the child get a handle on all the different phonemes being used in English. You need to give these abstract sounds dimensionality, so that they are easier to remember. For instance, in Easyread we use classic memory enhancement techniques and connect each sound to a bright, active and slightly surreal image. That makes them very easy for the child to use as a memory hook.
The next goal is to move the child away from the shortcuts being employed of memorisation and guessing. In Easyread we have developed games and exercises specially for this.
Once the child is redirected onto the right path, you need to make it easy to travel. Confidence is further built by steady reading practise. In Easyread we allow the child to read text unaided each day, by floating the images connected to each phoneme over the text. In that way, the child always has support when puzzling over a word.
Using these simple techniques you will see dramatic progress. Children who have become totally frustrated and depressed can learn to read in 2-6 months.
For advice on phonics and literacy for children and details on the Easyread Coaching System, visit our site EasyRead Coaching System
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