Archives for December 2019

Why Use a Reading App instead of a Reading Tutor

December 24, 2019

As a parent, your child’s education and academic success is likely one of your highest priorities. Thankfully, you don’t have to spend a fortune on tools and supplies to help your children succeed.

When it comes to sharpening their reading skills, technology may be the resource your kids need. Reading tutors can be expensive, and school programs may not fit into your child’s schedule. If you’re on the fence, here are a few key reasons to add a mobile reading app to your toolkit:

Give Kids an Alternative Learning Solution

Hiring a tutor isn’t for everyone; for children who experience reading anxiety or other deficits, adding another person to their reading routine can hinder their learning instead of giving them a boost.

Using a reading app provides supplementary practice that will help your children excel in their lessons. Each session is tailored to a specific objective or subject, giving your kids more control over the topics they cover.

Mobile reading programs are also helpful to use as a reading tutoring tool for your child’s homework assignments and test prep. If your child is stuck on a part of their current story, a bit more exposure can give them the push they need to progress. Using a reading app, in comparison to traditional tutoring methods, gives them more control and independence during each lesson.

If your kids are struggling in any subject in particular, reading apps can help them get over those specific hurdles.

Younger children often need more reinforcement and attention to stay focused than older kids. Using a reading app to work with them at home with help them inside and outside of the classroom, without the need to add an unfamiliar person to their routine.

Accurately Assess Reading Levels

When you’re helping your child with homework or study materials, it can be difficult to align with your children’ respective reading levels. This will give you a better idea about what elements need more attention, and which children may require additional support.

If you’re choosing books or worksheets that are too advanced or too rudimentary, your children likely won’t achieve the results they should.

Your children’s teachers will assess their reading levels in order to check reading comprehension, reading fluency, phonics, and phonemic awareness. Reading comprehension and fluency are the basis of all subjects. Your child must understand how words look, sound and are incorporated into every subject from science to history to English language arts.

Reading are a useful way to scaffold on to what they’ve learned in school and incorporate topics they are interested in learning.

Identify Issues Early On

Children are assessed on their reading ability from the day they enter school. Once children learn about phonemes and phonological sounds, they are able to blend them to create words. Since alphabet recognition and the ability to understand phonemes is the framework of reading, using a reading app at home will give you a hands-on way to reinforce these basics.

An auxiliary reading app gives you another avenue for assessing your child’s learning progress. You may be aware of some problems that your child is having, but adding online lessons provides you with an additional lens.

With helpful reporting tools and easy-to-understand benchmark breakdowns, you can get a better idea about where your child needs to improve, and where they may struggle later on.

If your child is struggling with reading aloud in class, for example, this can help you narrow down potential causes. Maybe your child is having a hard time with certain phonetic combinations, or it could possibly be related to their comprehension of each sentence as a whole.

Using an online learning system in combination with your child’s school curriculum will help you ensure that your child stays on track.

Artificial Intelligence in Digital Reading Tutor Programs

Electronic devices continue to make strides in the world of learning, as more and more educators see the benefits of tech in the classroom. Now, you can take advantage of those same benefits from your couch, car, or even the doctor’s office. Using a reading app can help you catch certain issues that could be missed by human error.

Artificial Intelligence in reading apps is one part of the puzzle, as it allows the system to accurately and efficiently respond to your child’s progress.

This groundbreaking technology allows reading apps to adapt to your child’s learning style.

Key features include:

Speech recognition
A.I.-guided reading with real-time correction
Listens and learns to respond to your child’s needs
Mobile-friendly for anytime learning on the go

By collecting information based on the user’s activities within the online learning environment, AI is able to adjust the program to fit each child’s needs. This makes it easier for all learning types – visual, auditory, or tactile – to fulfill their reading goals.

Our revolutionary online reading system uses this technology to ensure that each child receives the support they need, at their own pace. Not only can children control the speed at which they read aloud, but the app will respond appropriately to the speed they set. This ensures that the program can make corrections and adjustments in alignment with each and every individual child.

Choosing a program that incorporates Artificial Intelligence adds another layer of customization, simplifying the learning process even further.

Reading Apps Provide Reporting and Analysis

As an educator, using a reading app gives you even more control and insight into your child’s progress. Customizable reports and real-time timelines show you exactly where your child stands in every lesson.

Accurate, timely reporting allows you to use your reading resource to its full potential. It also serves as additional reinforcement and support for the children, since they’ll always know how they’re performing.

With this data, you can adjust existing lesson plans and prepare for current or predicted learning hurdles. You’ll never be in the dark when it comes to your child’s progress, improvement, or benchmarks.

Reading apps are an affordable, easy-to-use way for you to help skyrocket your child’s reading performance – across the board. Even if your child isn’t behind, they will surely benefit from the added support of a reading tutor program.

Whether your child is experiencing problems with pronunciation, test anxiety, comprehension, or vocabulary, using a reading app gives children the benefits of 1-on-1 instruction – without needing to hire a tutor.

How to use Online Reading Programs to Help Struggling Readers

December 23, 2019

The saying that children are like sponges really is true. If you spend the time with them, they can absorb and learn almost anything.

However, the key is how they are taught. As a parent, you need to support them and build upon each step. Just like building a house, plan out your approach, include some variations to the structure, and make sure the foundations are solid before they progress further.

Most kids learn to read in school, but it is also important for parents to support and encourage reading from a young age. Reading speed and comprehension can be greatly increased when parents actively support reading activities with relevant, age appropriate, interesting and interactive reading activities.

Pre-Reading Activities

Kids are naturally curious. They want to know everything about anything. Use this to your advantage!

Printed text is everywhere and can work as a wonderful introduction to reading. If you make it fun, they’ll be asking you what words mean and even telling you words they recognize.

While this isn’t ‘reading’ per se, it is an excellent start to recognizing the alphabet, which way up words should be, and even actual words.

Reading books to them and having fun with the pictures is also another big step. Simple techniques can help to grab their interest and teach the fundamentals.

When reading to a child, always follow the words with your finger. While at the beginning they obviously won’t read with you, they will learn from your actions that this is the direction we read, the letters should be this way up, and that we read books from front to back.

Then you can chat about the pictures, point out matching words, and add sounds or actions to bring the story to life.

Remember, you want them to want to read, for it to be FUN! So, don’t push too hard, let them guide the pace and make it as much fun as possible.

The Alphabet: Break It!

I bet that title took you by surprise. But, in all sense and purposes, it is true and a great trick to teaching children how to read properly.

In general, we all teach the alphabet, but almost always in order of A, B, C, etc.

You probably haven’t even thought of it much, but each letter has:

A name
At least one sound
A unique shape

You see kids learning and repeating things like “A – A – Apple, B – B – Banana”, but almost always this is in order and they learn the ‘song’ more than the sounds. That said, the alphabet is still great for them to learn in the standard form, and makes for a great building block.

However, once they start to get it, BREAK IT! At first, it might seem confusing or difficult. Yet, by breaking the order and not repeating things in ‘song mode’, you force them to recognize the shape, remember the name and match the sound.

When working with your child, spread the alphabet cards out randomly on the floor. You can then get your child to use a fly swatter to touch the letter name or sound that the teacher calls out.

Another simple twist is to write the letter and draw a matching object or animal. However you approach it, break the alphabet to give them a ‘real world’ phonological understanding of the alphabet.

Make the Connection – A Picture Says a Lot

It’s so important to keep things visual with kids. This is why multimedia and interactive reading can sometimes outperform books.

For sure, we all love traditional books, but the visuals are a major part of learning. Seeing the words and matching them to what’s happening in the visuals is vital.

Whether you are reading a book or using online reading programs, colorful pictures help to connect young minds with what the words actually mean.

Why Do Kids Need to Develop Phonology Awareness?

Phonology awareness is the stage that children go through when they start to notice similar sounds and the different parts of words.

With time, children learn the phonetics of individual letters, combinations of letters, and then how these fit together to form words. They even learn how to break down words into their base sounds.

By understanding that words are made up of combinations of letters that represent the sounds of that word, children can learn to sound out words that they aren’t sure about.

Sometimes, there is even the exciting realization that they know the word when they sound it out, they just didn’t recognize it in written form.

At What Age Should We Start Reading Activities?

Around 3 years of age is a good time to start with reading activities.

By starting young, they can form the basics early. This means that when they really start to learn to read properly, they will have a head start and their little minds should start to get all the information together quickly.

How to Easily Improve your Child’s Reading Level

With recent changes in technology, helping your child to learn isn’t as challenging as it once was. Online reading programs provide a fun and creative solution to an age-old problem.

By having your child enrolled in a reading program, it is like having a tutor work alongside your efforts. Instead of it being down to you and their teachers, an online reading program means that your little one has a supportive tutor 24/7.

Here we look at some of the ways it can help:

Making it Fun – All reading options are level appropriate and designed to be fun. They are colorful and interesting stories that are supported with visuals, sounds, and audio. What’s more, the range is constantly expanding to avoid boredom.

Interactive Activities – Kids can interact with the texts, listen to sounds or individual words, and even have the book read to them. If reading is difficult for them, they can even get live feedback, without a person being involved. This helps a lot for shy children that don’t want to make mistakes in front of other children or adults.

Support – Live feedback and audio support makes sure that learning progresses at a steady rate. Children can get pronunciation feedback, listen to words or sentences read for them, and a whole lot more. Our AI system actually adapts to every reader, developing a profile to ensure they get support in the areas that need focus.

Adaptive Technology – Reading materials, AI support, feedback, and more will all adapt to the level of the student. This means that online reading programs can offer customized, relevant and interesting reading support throughout childhood.

Parental Reports – So that you can see the results, our system sends parents full reports of progress, issues, and time spent. Unlike a ‘live’ tutor, these reports are not opinion-based, but contain only accurate facts about reading progress.

Parental Controls – Tasks, time and more can all be set up for numerous readers under one control panel. This makes assigning tasks and schedules for reading practice easy. It also allows you to clearly see the results in parental reading reports.

How to Teach Reading When You Are Busy?

Most parents in this day and age hardly have time to sit down for hours to work on reading skills. We get this, and while it certainly would be great if you can spend time with them (they’ll love it too), there are ways to increase reading skills when you can’t be the tutor.

A great and affordable option is to enroll your child in an online reading program, as well as to encourage independent real-world reading as they improve. Readability Tutor’s assisted online reading programs uses AI technology to provide individual support and a completely customized program for literacy development. Parents can also keep track of progress with live updates in the reporting area.

If you are too busy to spend time on this during the week, your AI reading assistant can step in to help your child improve and achieve the tasks you set them. This way, even if you can’t be home, you can support and monitor their literacy development online.

Of course, you can also reward them for achieving goals that you set, turning the entire experience into a fun and rewarding activity. With time, they will likely learn to love reading and take their own initiative to explore the world of texts available.

Don’t Forget to Comprehension Check

If you ask someone if they understood something you just explained, most will almost automatically reply with ‘yes’, even when they’re feeling confused. Our AI will help with all aspects of developing their reading levels, but it is also good for parents to do some comprehension checking once or twice a week.

By asking comprehension checking questions, you can also make sure they fully understood meanings and words, while giving them the attention that they are sure to love. You don’t need to spend lots of time on this, but it is a worthwhile activity for families to do together.

Is it worth it?

Absolutely!

Start your child on an online reading program today and get them ahead of the curve!

How to get Reading Help for Struggling Readers

December 20, 2019

Learning to read isn’t easy. If your child is struggling to read and finding it hard to keep up in school, you can help by supporting them with daily reading activities.

As a parent, it is important to monitor how your little one is progressing with their reading ability. Being able to read well is so important for education and being able to seize opportunities later in life.

The longer you wait and hope they’ll improve, the harder it becomes for them to catch up and they may start to fall behind in classes. This is why it is vital to provide reading help from the early years and continue to support their development.

So, let’s look at some of the stages of development and how you can support them with offline reading help and via online reading programs.

Start with the Basics

To make sure that their reading is strong later in life, lightheartedly start to introduce the basics of reading from about 3 years old.

At 3 years old, they can start to develop some of the core skills required. Often these are overlooked, simply because they seem so obvious to adults, they aren’t even thought about.

How to Read a Book

These might seem silly to an adult, but it makes sense when you consider it from the ‘blank slate’ perspective of a child that has never read a book. Make sure they understand:

Which way up letters or a book should be
That texts run from the left to the right
How to tell which is the front and back of a book
Matching some basic words to pictures

All of the above can be taught in fun and interesting ways. Try to avoid the Sergeant Major drill approaches and make reading enjoyable.

Start with the absolute basics, such as the alphabet song, then add sounds to the letters, then start to use letters out of order. By changing the order, you encourage recognition of the letter shape and association of its sound and name.

As you progress, try reading basic books with them and show them how the words flow with your finger or a highlighter (if digital). This way they learn the process of reading, without fully understanding the words.

Try to associate the words with pictures and notice words in the world around you. Comprehension checking simple words as and when you or they see them in the real world.

All of this helps to build a solid foundation for reading and a real understanding of phonics.

Is Phonics Important?

Phonics an approach to increase phonemic awareness, having a focus on the sounds that letters and combinations of letters make. It is the base structure of reading. If someone associates the wrong sound with letters, then when they read it won’t make sense to anyone listening, and even possibly to them.

By building their understanding of the sounds that letters represent, you are setting them up for success. Teach them how to break words into smaller sounds.

When they can break down the sounds, it means they can even read and ‘sound out’ words that they don’t recognize. In some cases, they will even know what the word means after they sound it out and hear the word spoken.

How to Break Down Words into Sounds

This is a tricky skill to master, so it is best to keep things as simple as possible. It is also important that you sit down first and practice what you have prepared before teaching this skill, or to use professionally prepared online reading resources.

The reason for this is that some words in the English language break normal rules, and letter combinations should be avoided at the beginning. You want to start out with 3-4 letter words, and sound out each of the sounds. This will allow your child to increase their association of the letters with those sounds.

Once you have sounded out the individual letters slowly, start to bring them together over 3-4 repetitions. You want to demonstrate the individual sounds and how when speeded up and said together, they become a word.

It can take time and practice to master this skill, but it is an important step in being able to read words that you don’t already recognise. This is vital for ongoing learning, where students can look up new words and sound them out to be able to use the new word in conversations. It won’t always work, but it opens up new vocabulary and reading level progression.

How to Build their Confidence With Technology

Using online reading programs to provide reading help is a wonderful way to allow children to learn in a way that doesn’t damage their confidence.

Reading out loud to a parent or teacher can be nerve wracking for a young child, especially one that is shy or nervous. This is where online reading help can step. By allowing children to listen to texts and follow the words, or even receive feedback on their own reading skills, children get to experiment with reading in a safe environment.

If they make mistakes, no one is there to see it and so there is no reason to feel embarrassed. This means that they can feel more comfortable and enjoy trying to read, instead of focusing on their fear of making mistakes.

Lacking Time to Spend on Reading Help?

Helping children to become strong readers is so important in the digital age. We consume so much information daily now in the written form, that would be entirely missed by anyone who can’t read.

However, spending time tutoring your child or other children how to read properly takes hours and hours of patient attention. This often isn’t possible to parents to commit to, especially those that are working or have a large family.

Tutors are expensive and sometimes not as good or trustworthy as you would like. Even trying to find a good tutor can take weeks of research and interviews.

This is why online reading programs are now providing the reading help that parents desire for their children. There is no concern about personality, bad behavior, timekeeping, fake reports or even high expenses. Instead, it is a simple case of enrolling and reaping the benefits.

Parents or teachers can even manage a group of students from one control panel, making this an easy way to keep reading levels progressing, even when you don’t have the time for one-to-one attention.

How to Use Reading Software to Develop Happy Readers

December 17, 2019

Children who struggle to read may quickly begin to view reading as a chore. Whether a child’s struggles lie in phonetic decoding or comprehension, turning reading time into just another lesson can be one of the biggest mistakes parents unknowingly make.

Struggling readers may be forced to focus on the intricacies of the reading experience instead of the experience itself. Reading intervention programs shouldn’t just help children develop their reading skills, they also should make reading fun. Online reading programs used for home-based literacy development and mastery should be designed to help readers gain proficiency and enjoy the reading experience.

How do you use online reading programs to develop happy readers?

Don’t nag about reading lessons
Start a reading ritual (maybe a snack or a fun environment)
Stop when a child begins to lose interest
Set reasonable goals
Read for fun (beyond lessons)

If a child perceives reading to be an “I have to do this” task instead of a fun immersive experience, where’s the joy? Reading is about discovery; books take us into new lands, introduce us to unique characters and let us gain new insight about the world around us.

Don’t Nag About Lessons

“Did you do your homework? Did you read for 20 minutes?” Sound familiar? Ensuring our children do their homework is part of parenthood. However, there’s a fine line between pushing accountability and nagging.

When parents use online reading software to help their child boost reading proficiency, the software can become yet another “did you….” How can parents ensure kids are meeting reading goals without pushing too hard?

For young children, parents should be in charge of lesson times. Ideally, parents should set a specific time for children to work on reading lessons with Readability. Parents should understand, though, that most kids need a bit of downtime after school.

Don’t start lessons straight off the bus. Instead, provide kids with time to unwind, engage in fun activities and process the day.

Older kids may want more autonomy. However, parents should still be in charge of lesson time. Otherwise, online lessons may be pushed aside completely. Parents should set a time for lessons every day or every other day (depending on homework load). Parents can set up the lessons in a space where they can monitor lessons or progress, but avoid micromanaging older kids during their online lessons.

Start a Reading Ritual

Setting a specific time for reading lessons ensures kids know the reading routine. However, parents should make the lesson experience fun—especially for younger kids.

Did you ever build a chair fort and read by flashlight? Thanks to mobile devices, reading software can be accessed anywhere. Grab a tablet and let your child relax in a reading fort!

Not sure how to create a reading fort? Take two chairs with backs facing each other (a few feet apart) and drape a blanket over the chairs.

A reading ritual also could include a snack or maybe the company of a few favorite stuffed animals. Create an environment that encourages relaxation…not stress!

Know When Enough is Enough

A child’s brain isn’t without its limits, and, after a while, those lessons can become too much. Lessons via Readability and online reading software shouldn’t drag on for hours. Parents also should let kids take “brain breaks.”

If a child is immersed in lessons and wants to continue to another story, then parents can encourage more time. However, children who seem to be disinterested or discouraged should not be forced to keep plugging away.

Watch a child’s demeanor and their actions. When a child is overwhelmed, stressed or too frustrated, call it a day. The lessons will be there tomorrow.

Set Reasonable Goals

Big goals are great motivators. Aiming beyond a child’s ability, though, may just lead to frustration…for you and your child. Don’t expect a child to boost their reading level overnight.

Reading proficiency can be quick for some but more difficult for others. Move at a pace that is best for your child. Set reasonable goals and keep the lessons relaxed and fun.

Never yell at a struggling child or demean them for making mistakes. Be positive and encourage your child throughout their journey.

Read for Fun!

Lessons are important to boost literacy levels. Using the software helps struggling readers increase phonetic understanding and improve their reading comprehension. However, reading for fun helps struggling readers, too!

No matter the age of the child, a parent can read aloud books and stories to kids to encourage active listening and comprehension. Reading aloud to kids is a great bonding experience for kids and parents and allows readers to enjoy a story without lessons attached.

Parents also can encourage ‘fun reading’ by allowing kids to choose any book on their shelf—regardless of reading level. Maybe a child has a beloved book from years ago; let them read it! Struggling readers also may not be able to read grade-level books that their peers read; this may cause them to feel left out. Read the book aloud to kids, and talk to them about the story and plot.

Don’t set goals for fun reading. Let kids read as long as they like. Many schools even encourage kids to read comic books or magazines…reading is reading. All words can help facilitate literacy.

Is Online Reading Software Right for Your Child?

When is the right time for reading intervention? Typically, a child’s school will flag reading concerns and discuss those concerns with parents. Some children may qualify for reading intervention through the school, but others might not qualify as reading concerns aren’t deemed severe enough.

If parents feel that a child should have additional reading intervention in the classroom, they should facilitate a dialogue with the school to explore options. Online reading programs at home also could help children gain proficiency and boost reading their reading level.

Readability can help children with all types of reading struggles—including dyslexia. Schedule a free trial period to explore the program and see if Readability is right for your child.

Developing Reading Skills With A Reading App

December 16, 2019

Learning to read is a major milestone in every child’s life. But, teaching a child to read is not easy. Parents may not know where to begin when it comes to teaching their children how to read. Furthermore, many schools fail to provide children with the tools or instruction they need to develop important reading skills.

Thanks to technology, parents won’t have to worry about their kids falling behind in reading. Now, children can use an educational reading app to improve their reading skills.

What Is A Reading App?

Readability is a reading app that is designed to help children improve their reading skills. The app uses advanced speech recognition and artificial intelligence to listen to your children read and correct pronunciation errors in real time. The feedback is instant so children can immediately recognize and correct their mistakes.

The virtual tutor makes learning to read easier than ever before. But this isn’t the only way that reading apps benefit children. Readability is available for smartphones and tablets, which makes reading more accessible to children. Using a reading app, children can work on their reading skills anytime, anywhere.

When Is A Child Ready to Start Reading?

There are certain behaviors that a child may engage in that indicate they are ready to start reading. Some of these “pre-reading behaviors” include:

Becoming aware of printed text on labels, packaging, signs, and papers.
Manipulating sounds on their own. For example, a child might sing “Hannah Hannah Fo-Fana, Banana-Fana Mo-Mana,” which indicates that they recognize rhyming and how to manipulate the word “Hannah.”
Understanding the concept of reading. Children may start to learn how to hold a book right-side up or move their fingers from left to right as they follow along with a story.
Separating syllables. Children that are able to segment words into syllables may be ready to start reading.

Keep an eye out for these pre-reading behaviors. Most children start to develop these skills in their preschool years. However, every child is unique, so as a parent, it’s up to you to determine when your child is ready to start reading.

Learning How to Read With A Reading App

The Readability app can help children drastically improve their reading skills. Here are some of the skills that children can master with a reading app:

Learning the ABCs
Saying the Sounds
Reading Rhymes
Understanding the Story

Learning the ABCs

Kids need to be introduced to the ABCs before they can start learning how letters come together to form words.

Learning each letter means knowing what the letter looks and sounds like. The key to mastering this skill is repeatedly exposing your children to the letters and their sounds using the Readability app.

The app’s virtual tutor will read stories aloud to your child while they follow along on the screen. This feature gives your child the opportunity to see what the different letters and words on the screen look and sound like when read aloud. Over time, they will start to memorize these letters and sounds.

Saying the Sounds

Listening to stories is a great way for children to ease into reading. However, it’s important for children to read stories aloud on their own in order to practice sounding out words.

Using the app, children can read stories aloud and receive feedback from the virtual tutor in real time. If your child mispronounces a word, the virtual tutor will correct them within seconds, so they can learn from their mistakes.

This exercise helps children become more comfortable with sounding out words—even those they are unfamiliar with—so they can broaden their vocabulary and enhance their reading skills.

Reading Rhymes

There’s a reason why so many children’s books contain rhyming words. Learning how to rhyme can help children understand the different sounds and structures of words. The Readability app will introduce children to many different rhyming stories, so they can quickly master this skill.

Understanding the Story

Kids should be able to do more than simply read words aloud—they also need to understand the story they are reading.

The Readability app allows children to read stories written for a wide range of grade levels. It’s best to start your child at their grade level. Then, the app will notify you if it’s time for your child to advance to the next level based on their performance.

Having such a wide variety of content on the app ensures that children never have to read a story that is too advanced for their skill level. This way, children who are using the app are only introduced to content that they are capable of understanding.

Each story also features colorful illustrations that help the reader understand what’s going on. These illustrations, combined with the age-appropriate content, help readers improve their reading comprehension skills.

How Can Parents Track Their Kids’ Progress?

Parents can closely monitor their child’s progress using the Readability app. The app allows parents to set certain goals for their children related to their words per minute, accuracy, and duration. Parents can track their child’s progress towards meeting these goals simply by opening up the app.

The app also provides customized reports for parents that include valuable information on their child’s performance. This makes it easy for parents to track their children’s progress over time and see how much their reading skills have improved.

How Can Parents Encourage Reading?

Some children fall in love with reading, whereas others will not. Either way, parents should make an effort to encourage their children to read on a regular basis. Here’s how:

Create time for reading in their daily routine. This ensures that reading becomes a habit.
Help them improve their reading skills. Some children may avoid reading because they are not good readers. If this is an issue, continue to work on improving their reading skills.
Set up a cozy, comfortable area for reading. Your children won’t think of reading as a chore if they actually enjoy relaxing with a book.
Recognize your child’s accomplishments. Make sure to celebrate when your child meets certain goals. This type of positive reinforcement will encourage them to keep going.
Let them choose what to read. Children are more likely to enjoy reading if they’re interested in the story.

Follow these tips to help your child discover the joy of reading at a young age.

Introduce Your Child to the World of Reading

Teaching your child how to read is not easy. But fortunately, parents don’t have to face this challenge alone. Use the Readability app to help your children develop the skills they need to become proficient readers. It doesn’t matter where your child is in the process of learning to read—readers of all skill levels can benefit from the Readability app. Take the first step towards fostering a love of reading in your children by downloading the Readability app today.

The Best Online Reading Program for Kids

December 13, 2019

Reading difficulties in childhood can lead to a child feeling less confident in the classroom and some kids may want to avoid school completely. Traditional intervention programs in the classroom may be necessary to ensure the child meets grade-level reading expectations, but online reading programs also may be beneficial for children to further increase literacy at home.

The best online reading program for kids features:

Interactive learning
AI assistance for pronunciation
Engaging stories
Grade-level content
Individualized reports to monitor progress

Interacting Learning: Bringing Stories to Life

Children learn in different ways; some or visual, others are auditory learners. Boosting comprehension and phonetic understanding doesn’t just involve guided lessons. To encourage a love of books and stories, lessons should be interactive—drawing kids into the story through immersive features.

Some software programs encourage kids to explore story lessons by hovering a cursor over a character or object in the story. This could allow for additional story features like listening to character dialogue or settings that transform with the click of the mouse.

While this type of interaction doesn’t push phonetic lessons, the hands-on functions allow kids to view learning (and reading) as a joyful experience. Exploring a book and a story should be fun, not just another sit down and read homework assignment.

Guided Reading: AI Assistance for Pronunciation Problems

Reading requires phonetic decoding, and this can be tough for some children to master. Phonetic issues could lead to comprehension issues if children aren’t able to correctly decipher words and phrases within the story.

The best online reading programs should offer integrated assistance—a virtual reading tutor! AI capabilities prompt young readers when they stumble over a word, helping them correctly identify mistakes so they can continue on with the story. These prompts ensure children develop a better phonetic understanding to further advance their reading level.

Engaging Stories

Sometimes reading intervention programs don’t engage readers with content. No struggling reader wants to read boring or basic stories. While phonetic composition and story content should be on level with a reader’s needs, the story also should provide engagement and hold a child’s interest.

Look for online reading programs that offer a variety of topics to keep a reader excited. Stories should be interesting to readers visually, as well. Since many children learn by seeing, colorful illustrations help bring a story to live and may further help a child comprehend text while reading.

Appropriate Leveled Content

Each child learns differently and at a unique pace. Reading problems are not all the same, and children may have different challenges when it comes to literacy. Not every child needs to start a reading program at the beginning level; in fact, some kids may just need a little extra assistance to meet grade-level expectations.

It’s important that parents research programs to ensure that reading levels are appropriate and individualized. A child shouldn’t be subjected to content that was already mastered or feel that the lessons are beyond their skill level.

The best online reading program should address each child’s unique needs and adjust lessons accordingly. This ensures that kids receive the assistance needed to progress in their reading journey.

Monitoring Progress: Individualized Reports

Progress is important and parents want to see results; they need to know that the program is not only benefiting their child but it’s also helping to advance their child to the next level.

How can parents ensure that an online reading program is working to address literacy needs? Readability provides reading reports for each child to track progress; parents also can set reading goals for their child (like words read per minute, reading accuracy and reading endurance). The program also shows parents how their child(ren) has improved over time.

These individualized reports and goal setting functions help parents understand the benefits of the program and each child’s progress.

Could Your Child Benefit From an Online Reading Program?

Looking for the right program is necessary for parents who have children with reading difficulties, but how does a parent know when intervention at home is necessary?

Most schools perform reading assessments that help parents understand their child’s reading level. These reports also help catch reading deficits that need to be addressed both in the school setting and possibly at home.

Not all kids who lag behind in reading qualify for classroom literacy intervention programs, however. A child who is mildly struggling might not qualify for additional intervention in school; qualifications for special programs may vary by school district.

Parents can opt to help kids at home with online reading intervention programs to help boost comprehension and phonetic understanding. Even if children are receiving additional help in the classroom, at-home programs can provide additional support to aid struggling readers.

Online Reading Programs vs. Private Tutors: What’s the Best Option?

For many parents with a struggling reader, immediate intervention often is the goal. If a child doesn’t qualify for school programs or intervention, parents may be on their own.

A private tutor may be one option to help a child progress reading skills. However, parents may find private tutors and companies offering lessons or assistance to be cost prohibitive. Scheduling time to meet with a tutor also could be a problem for working parents trying to balance multiple roles and responsibilities.

Are Online Reading Programs Designed for Children Diagnosed with Dyslexia?

Dyslexia is a learning disorder that affects a child’s ability to decode text and impacts reading mastery. Not every child who struggles with reading is dyslexic, though.

A diagnosis of dyslexia, however, may help parents seek more intervention for their child in the classroom. Parents who suspect a child might have dyslexia should address their concerns with the child’s pediatrician.

If a child is diagnosed with dyslexia, home-based reading programs could provide additional assistance outside the classroom. Readability is designed for children with all types of reading struggles including dyslexia. The virtual assistant can provide the auditory feedback needed to help all struggling readers gain better phonetic awareness and understanding.

The best online reading intervention program should include a multi-modal approach to guide phonetic understanding and engage struggling readers. Programs should offer auditory feedback through a virtual tutor to help guide readers with phonetic coding and pronunciation. Stories should be engaging and interactive to encourage children to explore stories and immerse in the reading journey. Online reading programs also should provide leveled content that moves with readers as they progress to different stages of difficulty, and the program should provide parents with progress reports detailing a child’s mastery and achievements.

While some children may receive reading intervention at school, others may not qualify for this type of additional support. For some children, an at-home online program is the only tool they have to catch up to the reading levels of their peers; parents should expect that any program they utilize should provide comprehensive tools to level the educational playing field for their child. Although private tutors also could be an option, tutors can be both cost and time prohibitive for many working parents, making online programs the easier and budget-friendly option to address their child’s literacy needs. If your child is a struggling reader, try Readability for free to see if our online reading program is right for your child!