You tried teaching them at home. You tried a traditional classroom. You bought programs, talked to your neighbors, friends, relatives—everyone has a story about what worked for their kids. But it’s not working for your child. Why not?
Well . . . it’s actually a surprisingly complicated question because reading and writing are complicated skills. So the answer is going to be a little different from one child to the next. The reality is that learning to read and write is at least a little difficult for most children. Very few pick up these skills without some effort. But for many children (around 10-15%), it isn’t just a little difficult — it’s extra difficult.
Let’s talk about the likely reasons your child struggles and what you can do to help.
The three most common causes for reading and writing difficulty and delay are:
- Dyslexia
- Dysgraphia
- Developmental Language Disorder
For details about these neurologically-based difficulties and the hallmarks for each, watch the video below and download the accompanying checklist.
While most of us are born ready to learn how to speak and listen, research shows that literacy must be explicitly taught for students to be successful. Even with very slight or no neurological differences, many children can find learning to read and write so difficult that they try to avoid instruction and practice whenever they can. This is especially true for children learning to read and write English, the most difficult language for literacy.
Should I Wait?
You may have received well-meaning advice to wait until your child is “ready” to read or “ready” to write. Unfortunately, children who struggle with these skills may never willingly pursue them. And who can blame them? Most of us who find something difficult to do also find ways to avoid it! (Do you avoid algebra? dancing? chess? grammar? detailing your car?)
Research also shows that waiting is not the answer—especially for those who struggle. Year after year, the gap continues to grow between what they know and what they are expected to know, and eventually, what they will NEED to know in order to pursue their life interests. As our children advance, they are expected to read in ALL subjects—history, math, art, science, foreign language, etc. The learning gap in being able to read and write now becomes a knowledge gap in all other subjects.
How Can I Help My Child?
So how do you help when your child actively avoids everything to do with reading and writing? What do you do when your child only wants to listen to books (and never read them) and resists or cries when the pencils come out for writing?
Unfortunately, there is no magic pill that can instantly close the skill gap. Let’s say that again (because it’s really important to understand) — there is no instant fix. But there is a path!
Students who have tried in the past and been unsuccessful will likely need to start at the beginning in order to fill in the learning gaps that are holding them back from success. Learning is rarely fun until it is successful! The good news for many older learners is that these early steps will be a mix of new and review, so students can have some quick, early success and, therefore, gain confidence for tackling concepts that may be more difficult for them.
The single most important aspect of starting at the beginning is to establish strong sound-to-letter connections from day one. To accomplish this foundational goal, Rooted in Language uses some basic, but powerful, strategies:
- Teach all new concepts explicitly, using hands-on manipulatives (like Letter Tiles, Sound Lines, or Syllable Cards) to get learning “off the page”
- Always have students say each letter or letter team’s sound as they write the letter(s) to cement the relationship between a letter’s sound, its formation, and its image
- Teach reading, writing, and spelling together to reinforce and strengthen each set of skills
If your student has tried to learn reading and/or writing in the past, take time to talk with your child about their frustration. Let them know that you appreciate their difficulty and that you want to help. Explain that your new goal is to back up, take it slow, and find all the areas that first caused the problems so that your child can be a successful (and engaged) reader and writer, no matter their age!
Should I Try Cursive?
Many people with learners who struggle use this fresh start to teach cursive. Because cursive teaches letter formation over again, it provides a ready-made opportunity to employ the three strategies listed above. This gives you and your student a second chance to cement sound-to-letter relationships and grow their underlying reading and writing skills. Research also tells us that the connected nature of cursive writing is uniquely effective for improving spelling and helping children with dysgraphia overcome some of their writing strain.
What about Keyboarding?
When your child has extreme difficulty writing, it is tempting to move straight to typing. This is another area where there is growing research to help us make that decision. As adults, we know that it’s effective to be able to toggle smoothly between print, cursive, and typing/keyboarding. We want our kids to grow up with that ability as well. And they will certainly need to know how to type eventually. But be careful—we now know the importance of learning and practicing handwriting first! Writing by hand cements sound-to-letter knowledge in a way that keyboarding does not. The extra effort and skill required to write words by hand provides a deeper neurological connection. Therefore, it also provides a deeper opportunity to improve sound-to-letter connections, word form memory, and spelling. For children who struggle, handwriting takes time, but it is a key step in their growth as readers and writers. In addition, students with dyslexia are also likely to struggle learning fast and efficient keyboarding, which means that more handwriting practice will eventually benefit their keyboarding as well.
What if I am Overwhelmed?
If these strategies seem overwhelming for you or your student, you don’t have to do it alone. Our Pinwheels program starts at the very beginning and provides guided instruction on how, when, and why to teach every aspect of reading and writing. Watch our video below, The Struggling Writer: 4th - 8th Grade, for a better understanding of how this program will help older students who are struggling to learn literacy skills.
Learn more about our Pinwheels program in our Shop—read the FAQ for more about modifying this program for an older learner. You can also take our Placement Quiz to figure out where to start based on what your student currently knows. Whatever method of support you choose, the message from research is clear: don’t wait—get started today using the right strategies. Then, watch your worries shrink as your child’s skills expand!
