Is your child struggling with reading? Here are 5 ways you can help at home.

Does your child have reading problems?

Many children have reading difficulties and need some focused support to learn and practice the skills they need. The school should have structures in place to help, but  there are also things you can do at home.

Here are 5 ways you can help your child at home:

1. Encourage reading at home – make it fun, not stressful

• Help your child to associate reading with happy, relaxed family time, not just stressful moments in school.

• Have frequent casual reading times where you help or share in the reading as much as they need.

• Follow your child’s interests and abilities: include things like recipes, street signs, toy instructions, or comics.

2. Work with the teacher to identify the challenging areas

• There are many different components to reading. Ask the teacher what skills your child struggles with and how to practice those skills at home.

• Make sure they’re doing some focused teaching strategies (“interventions”) with your child at school too. Stay up-to-date on what they are doing.

• Keep track of their progress at school. Stay in touch with the teacher and ask for regular assessments and reports.

3. Practice the skills with focused strategies and games

• Find resources with games and strategies to practice the specific skills with your child. Have an older sibling help if that makes it more fun!

• Build the practice into your routine so you do just a little each day. Make it short and focused.

• This may be mentally tiring for your child. Let them fidget if they need to and follow it up with a reward or a fun or relaxing activity of their choice.

4. Check for learning disabilities if they don’t start to catch up

• Ask the school to evaluate your child to see if they have a learning difference like dyslexia or dysgraphia. If they do, they should qualify for special education services.

• Advocate for reading interventions or special education services at school if your child needs them.

• Keep at it! Make sure the process moves forward and that the interventions are happening.

5. Be positive and give praise!

• Children with reading difficulty often develop low self-esteem. Be patient and stay positive. Give lots of praise, and don’t criticize.

• Keep reading times short and give your child lots of opportunities to build their self-esteem with activities that they like and can do well.

• Be open to talking about how they feel. If you notice a lot of anxiety, talk to the school counselor and get some advice.

Try these 5 tips at home to help get your child off to a good start with reading!

Check out our Literacy Support Resources to learn more!