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You are here: Home / 2021 / Archives for November 2021

Archives for November 2021

Here’s How to Help Child with Reading Difficulties

November 30, 2021

How to Help Child with Reading Difficulties

A child who is struggling with reading certainly isn’t the only one with this problem in school. In fact, millions of children may have difficulties with reading. Parents may look for ways on how to help their child. While there are many different strategies to help a child who struggles with reading, not every strategy might work for each child.

Parents might be Googling ferociously to find the best solution. Typing in “how to help child with reading difficulties” might result in many different resources that give different tips and ideas for parents.

Depending on the source, there could be expert advice—tips backed by research—or just a few novice tips. Parents may literally feel like they are drowning in advice. What’s best for the child? Do skill and drill techniques work for reading? Does my child have a learning disorder?

Really, the search can seem exhausting. Especially when all parents want is a cut and dry answer on how to help their child. But each child is different. And while some children might have an underlying medical condition and/or learning disorder that is affecting their reading journey, others might not have a diagnosis for why they struggle.

Helping a child read when they are having difficulty may be a trial and error situation. That is, parents may try out different strategies to find out what works for their child. While there isn’t one single or simple tip or trick that may work for everyone, here is a list of options for parents needing to help a struggling reader:

How to Help Child with Reading Difficulties

Talk to the School

In the Readability blog, it’s often noted that parents might want to reach out to the school for guidance when their child is struggling. The reason for this is that the school—more specifically the child’s teacher—might be able to provide more insight about a child’s struggle.

Teachers may note that a child is reading below grade level. They may notice that the child struggles with sounding out words or comprehending the story. Or teachers may tell parents that their child is struggling with all aspects of literacy.

Teachers may provide parents with ways to help their child. Perhaps teachers could share links to programs that parents can use at home. Some schools let children access school programs at home, but others may not be able to allow access.

Sometimes parents could assume their child is struggling when they aren’t even behind. Parents could compare a child to an older sibling who was a precocious reader. Reading benchmarks in the parent’s mind could be skewed to a more advanced reading ability.

Teachers also could refer a child for a more thorough reading evaluation or other academic assessments. These could be part of a process to qualify for an IEP.

Reach out to the Pediatrician

If the child’s teacher doesn’t provide much help related to a child’s struggle, parents may take their questions to the child’s doctor. Pediatricians may be another resource when parents notice that their child is struggling in school.

Pediatricians could provide referrals to other clinicians like audiologists (if a hearing impairment is suspected), neuro-psychologists, speech therapists, etc. These specialists could help provide more data related to why a child is struggling.

Research Organizations that Specialize in Educational Struggles

Not every child will have a medical reason behind their reading struggles. Not every child will have a learning disorder. But some may have underlying medical reasons for their struggles. A child may be diagnosed with dyslexia, hyperlexia, autism, ADHD, etc. These diagnoses could impact reading.

However, one way to find help for children who struggle academically is to research organizations that specialize in educational needs for children with learning disorders or other specific diagnoses. For children with autism who have reading struggles, parents could reach out to organizations like Autism Speaks or visit their web page to find resources.

The Learning Disabilities Association of America (LDA) also offers a variety of links related to learning, state resources, professional resources and even different resources for specific diagnoses (like ADHD).

But what about parents whose child doesn’t have a known learning disorder or any type of specific diagnosis? Reading problems could exist on their own unique spectrum; parents can visit sites like Understood or Reading Rockets, which offer a long list of reading resources (and organizations!).

How to Help Child with Reading Difficulties

Some Basic Tips for Helping at Home

For some children, reading may just be more of a challenge. If parents discover that their child is reading below benchmark or even that their child just doesn’t feel confident reading aloud, there are some common strategies parents can utilize at home.

Again, children may have different reading struggles. While one child might just struggle with comprehension, another might have difficulty with decoding skills and reading fluency. Younger children may have difficulty identifying their sight words.

Decoding & Reading Fluency Tips

Children who have trouble sounding out words or ‘decoding’ also may struggle with letter recognition and sounds. Stumbling while trying to pronounce a word might mean that reading speed decreases, too.

How do parents help children who struggle with letter recognition, sounds, and decoding. The Literacy Nest offers many tips and strategies for children who struggle with decoding. The site explains that  creating the foundation for phonological awareness requires discerning the difference between sounds, breaking up the different sounds of a word, and blending sounds.

So how do parents help develop this foundation? The site recommends breaking up words into chunks or “syllable division.” The word ‘rabbit’ was used as an example. Parents would break the rabbit into two parts “rab” and “bit.”

Literacy Nest also recommends that parents help children point out or ‘mark’ the vowels and explains that parents can have children say the vowel sound first before reading the word. Parents may need to help children figure out the sound the vowel will make…long or short sounds.

Finding patterns in words also is a strategy recommended by the site. Patterns show similar sounds. This could be rhyming words or just words that use the same vowel blends.

Separate from the site’s recommendation, parents also could teach children helpful strategies that aid spelling (which also helps reading!). One such example is: “I before E except after C or when sounding like A as in neighbor and weigh!”

Sight Word Identification

Sight words are often a part of the literacy curriculum in lower elementary grades. Typically, students are given a list of common words that they need to identify on sight. One of the easiest ways to help students learn these words is through memorization or ‘skill and drill.’

Flashcards

Parents can make flashcards for each sight word and practice with children daily.

Sight Word Scavenger Hunt

Want to have fun while teaching children sight words? Grab a list of the words they need to identify and have children find these words during errands to the store…or anywhere. Have them say the word when they find it…then they can scratch it off the list.

Sight Word Matching

Instead of flash cards, create two cards for each sight word and play a standard match game with children.

Sight Word Apps

Apple and Android both offer a number of games that help with sight word identification. Just search for ‘sight words’ via Google Play or the App Store.

Comprehension Tips

Comprehension expectations change as the child advances in grade level. During early reading levels, children may need to simply identify the common ‘wh’ questions of a story: who, what, where, when, why and how.

In later grades, though, comprehension may become a bit more abstract. Children may need to be able to predict what might happen next, understand character differences and perhaps a story’s theme to their own circumstances and experiences.

Comprehension Bookmarks

A comprehension bookmark can serve as a visual reminder related to what the child needs to think about as they read a story. These bookmarks can include different prompts and questions to help children think as they read. Check out sites like Fun in First, What I Have Learned Teaching, and Teach Junkie for examples of these helpful reading tools.  

Chunk the Text

Chunking text could help some children with comprehension. Chunking means reading a section at a time to help find meaning. This technique allows children to break up larger sections into more manageable smaller pieces. Young children may chunk by sentence, and older kids might chunk paragraphs or pages. Use a strategy that works best for each child.

Listening to an Audio Book

Children may find it beneficial to listen to an audiobook as they follow along in their book. This is a bit like having a parent read aloud. Audio books could help children identify emotion or perhaps better understand the action of a book. Children also could rewind to listen to parts that they need to reread.

Reading…Again

Rereading is a strategy that can help children go back over text they previously read. This can help them find details they missed. Sometimes children need to reread a section to fully understand it. Even adults go back and reread material; this can be a great strategy to aid comprehension.

Using a Reading Program

Children who need help with reading also could benefit from using a lesson-based reading program. Readability is designed to help children with all aspects of reading and includes a built-in AI tutor that guides each lesson.

The AI tutor is programmed to understand a child’s unique voice. This means that when a child mispronounces a word or stumbles, the tutor understands that the child is struggling and will provide help. Readability’s AI tutor also asks questions at the end of each story to test a child’s comprehension of what they read.

Readability is designed for children in preschool  to fifth grade; the program can grow with a child and help them strengthen their reading skills throughout elementary school. When using Readability, parents also can set their  child’s reading level or the program can determine the child’s level.

Children will only advance to a higher reading level when they demonstrate proficiency in both reading fluency and comprehension. But how do parents know the program is helping their child?

The Parent Dashboard is a portal accessible only to parents. The Dashboard shows parents all the reading data related to their child. Parents can see their child’s reading level, their reading fluency data and how long they read via the program. They also can collate all the data into a report to send to the child’s teacher.

Parents interested in using the program to help their child can sign up for a free trial period. Readability offers a free seven-day trial period that provides children with full access to all the program’s features. Ready to use a virtual AI reading tutor? Sign up for Readability today!

Filed Under: Reading Help

How to Inspire Gratitude in Kids this Thanksgiving

November 26, 2021

Inspire Gratitude in Kids

For parents, Thanksgiving probably means cooking up a big dinner—or at least a dish to share—and/or getting the house ready for guests. Children, though, might look at the holiday as the time for a big turkey dinner, the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day parade and four days off from school.

Parents also understand the meaning behind the holiday, and know that behind those decorative fall colors and gourd centerpieces, gratefulness and thankfulness lie at the heart of Thanksgiving. But even if parents remember to take a moment for gratitude, how can they inspire gratitude in kids this Thanksgiving?

Here are eight activities to get ready for Thanksgiving and embrace the meaning behind this day of giving thanks!

Gratitude Jars

Gratitude jars, joy jars or blessing jars are really the same concept. This is an empty jar that holds a message of thankfulness or a blessing shared for each day. These jars are an easy and fun DIY project; parents will need empty Mason jars and strips of paper. Children can decorate their jars with colors or symbols of the holiday…or anyway they like.

Every day encourages children to write something for which they are thankful. Start the tradition on Thanksgiving, and aim to write a message each day until next Thanksgiving. Then open up the jars and let children read their blessings.

Start a new jar of messages each year! Children can use last year’s jar or make a new one every year.

Donate to the Less Fortunate

Not everyone has family or friends with whom they can share the holiday. Some don’t have homes, access to a warm space or even a dinner to eat. To commemorate the blessings of being fortunate to have each of these things, give others blessings.

Local food pantries may accept items for Thanksgiving dinners to provide to families in need. Or they may be in need of other items. Take children shopping to pick out items to donate.

Read to a Shelter Animal

Does the family have a beloved pet? Some animals will spend Thanksgiving waiting for a loving home and a forever family. There are shelters that encourage children to read to shelter dogs to provide them with companionship.

Not only does reading to dogs help children, but it helps the animals, too. Children can read at their speed; they don’t need to worry about making a mistake. Animals will likely just love the attention, the time and the new smiling faces!

Do a Random Act of Kindness

Celebrate Thanksgiving by doing a random act of kindness, and make this a family tradition. Encourage children to do one nice thing for someone in honor of the holiday. Maybe they help a friend, a sibling or just pay someone a compliment. Maybe they take the trash to the curb without being asked!

Inspire Gratitude in Kids

Say Thank You

On Thanksgiving, share thanks with those you love. The family can go around the table and share something kind about every person. Or say a thank you to every person for a kind act that they have done. There’s always a reason to say thank you!

10 Days of Thanksgiving

Before the day of thanks formally arrives, get into the giving spirit by celebrating the 10 days before Thanksgiving. For each day before Thanksgiving, do something kind as a family. This could be volunteering, helping a neighbor or relative or just helping each other. Maybe one day is devoted to everyone getting the home ready for the holiday.

Leave Notes of Kindness

Leave a note of kindness for a friend or family member. Or maybe leave a random note for someone who needs a kind word. Write a note on a nice message on a sales receipt. Or write a nice review for a favorite restaurant. Parents can even send a kind note to a child’s teacher.

Keep a Gratitude Journal

For some, gratitude is every day. There are even gratitude journals to keep track of blessings and to write about events of the day. Encourage children to start a gratitude journal this year!

Inspire Gratitude in Kids

Understanding Thanksgiving Traditions

While doing acts of kindness and celebrating gratitude embraces the essence of the holiday, there also is a lot of history behind Thanksgiving and its traditions. From the history of the Plymouth colonists to the tradition of the President pardoning a turkey, here are topics to help children explore to understand more about Thanksgiving:

The History of Thanksgiving

Families can celebrate Thanksgiving by embracing some of the above ideas and making the thankful activity part of their yearly tradition. However, sometimes children don’t always understand why Thanksgiving is a time to be thankful.

Children might not know the history behind the holiday or why Thanksgiving is even about giving thanks. Some parents also might not know the full history of the holiday.

While many assume that the Native Americans and the pilgrims were gathered around a big table eating turkey and other yummy foods, that really isn’t the real historical perspective. However, it’s important for children to learn how and why the earliest settlers had a reason to be thankful and grateful for the Native American tribes who helped them survive in an unfamiliar terrain.

Local libraries will be the best source of Thanksgiving history. Visit the children’s section for books related to this holiday and the history behind it.

Parents might even dig deeper into the other aspects of the holiday. Like the meaning behind the cornucopia (aka the horn o’plenty).

Thanksgiving around the World

Thanksgiving may be a U.S. holiday, but other countries may have similar holidays. Help children explore how other cultures celebrate their thanks.

In the days leading up to Thanksgiving, explore the traditions on each continent or have children list countries whose cultures they want to explore. Parents can also choose countries of their family’s heritage.

Pardon the Turkey

Every year, the President of the United States grants a pardon to one turkey. This specific bird will NOT be the main course on anyone’s dinner table.

Children may see this tradition take place each year. But do they know how it began? Do parents? The turkey may be thankful for the pardon, but this fun piece of U.S. history also has a backstory. Explore it this year! There are a lot of myths related to how the pardon came to be, and The White House Historical Association provides all the details!

Why Do We Eat Turkey on Thanksgiving?

Turkey is synonymous with the Thanksgiving meal. But why? Again, there are differing opinions about the yearly fowl feast. Historians speculate that the turkey might not have been on the dinner table at Plymouth; they believe that Pilgrims likely ate goose or duck instead.

According to Britannica, turkeys became a popular choice around the 19th century for a few reasons; turkeys weren’t hard to find and they could feed a family. Later, books referenced a turkey for holidays and it eventually became symbolic of the holiday.

Now the holiday meal encompasses many dishes beyond turkey including mashed potatoes, sweet potato casserole, green beans, pies of many varieties, cornbread and more. Looking at these foods, it’s clear that most of the dishes represent foods that are harvested in the autumn.

Read to Understand

Children may be curious to know all about Thanksgiving beyond  just the delicious dinner and the floats of a major parade. One of the easiest ways to learn about history is to encourage them to read about Thanksgiving!

This time of year is also a good time to pick up books related to the experiences of others and books detailing historical perspectives. Being thankful and grateful also means trying to walk a few steps in another person’s shoes. And understanding how gratitude can grow with new perspectives.

Encourage children to read a book a day to dig deeper into traditions, history and even festive foods at the local library!

Filed Under: Reading Program

Are You Googling “How to Help My 7-Year-Old Read?” Here’s How to Help!

November 23, 2021

how to help my 7 year old read

Every grade-level brings new challenges and fun adventures. At the age of seven, children may be in first or second grade. For many, reading is a developing skill. Seven-year-olds may work on sound blends and other decoding skills as they work to understand bigger words and expand their vocabulary.

Sight word lists may still be a common assignment in both first and second grade, and children may need to work on memorizing these lists of words. Parents Googling “how to help my 7-year-old read” can use a few tips and fun activities to help at home.

Even when children aren’t struggling with reading, they still need to read each day and practice their skills.

Sight Word Help

Sight words are a common expectation for children in the lower elementary grades. These are words children need to recognize immediately when they see them in stories and text. Sight words are typically easy, but memorization is a great way to help children learn them and recognize them.

The list of sight words change for each grade level, and a seven-year-old might be in either first or second grade. No matter what words are on their list, though, use these games and exercises to help them learn and recognize these common words.

Flash Cards

Parents can make flash cards for sight words out of simple note cards. Just write a word on each card and practice daily.

Sight Word Apps

Apps also can be used to practice sight words. Some of these games include flashcards, too. Game titles may vary depending on the device; although, there are many sight word games that can be downloaded for free via both Google Play and the App Store.

Sight Word Scavenger Hunt

Help children practice identifying their sight words by taking a sight word scavenger hunt. Write down the list of words or use cards with each word written on them. Children can look for words during errands to stores, at home…or anywhere. Have them mark off each word when they find it. Maybe parents also offer a small prize or an extra at-home privilege for finding each word.

Sight Word Reading Hunts

Scavenger hunts for sight words also can be included in nightly reading. Challenge children to point out sight words on their list as parents read to them at night. This is a fun way to find all those sight words.

Sight Word Matching

Create a matching game with all the sight words. Just create two cards of each word and place them face down randomly. Children and parents can take turns finding the matching words.

Reading Fluency Practice

Some children may not feel confident reading aloud. Maybe they struggle to sound out some words. Reading aloud, though, is great practice to help children gain reading confidence and read more fluently. Children are often encouraged to read nightly, and many are given a specified number of reading minutes.

Parents can read with children to ensure they meet these minutes. During reading, parents can help children when they struggle sounding out new words. To work on fluency, parents also can create fun games for children or just use a few reading tips to help them.

Reading Races

Have children practice fluency by reading a paragraph for one minute. This can help parents understand how many words per minute they can read. Subtract any errors from the number of words to determine the reading fluency. Encourage children to ‘beat’ their best score!

Chunk Text

Some children who have difficulty with reading fluency might need to read chunks of text at a time. Or parents can find books with text broken up by pictures or illustrations. Large blocks of text might be overwhelming. Illustrations can help a book seem more manageable.

Encourage Children to Sound it Out

When reading with children, parents may notice that a child struggles with a word. Some children might try to decipher the word by looking at the picture, but sounding it out is a better way to help decipher that word. Have the child make each sound and put the blends and sounds together. Parents may need to help if a word is too long or if they don’t follow the regular sound rules.

Helping with Comprehension

Some children may be fluent readers but may have difficulty with describing what happened in a story or remember the names of characters. If children struggle with key aspects of comprehension, parents can help them work on this skill at home with games and reading strategies.

How to Help My 7-Year-Old Read

Comprehension Bookmarks

Making a comprehension bookmark is a fun craft project for children and can provide reminders about the ‘wh’ questions as they read a book or story. There are many examples of these bookmarks online, but, for younger children, parents may just ensure that bookmarks include variants of the ‘wh’ prompts: who, what, when, where, why and how.

The site Fun in First offers great examples of these bookmarks! The site includes a link to download bookmarks or just use them for inspiration to help kids create their own bookmarks.

Text Chunking

Help children focus on small amounts of text at a time by chunking the text. This can help children think about what’s happening in each segment of the story and perhaps not feel too overwhelmed. Some stories break up text naturally with illustrations, and parents may want to ask questions related to those ‘wh’ prompts after different sections of the book (or maybe every few pages).

Comprehension Catch

Use a beach ball to help children work on comprehension skills! A comprehension beach ball can be purchased online, or parents can just buy a beach ball and make their own. Just write comprehension prompts on sections of the ball using a permanent marker. Check out the site Conversation in Literacy for examples on these fun reading balls.

So how do you play comprehension catch? Toss the ball to each child and the prompt that faces upward is what they need to answer. Parents should join in the fun.

Put on a Puppet Show

To help children remember the details of the story, put on a puppet show. Make puppets using popsicle sticks (as the handle); create each character out of sturdy cardboard or just use construction paper. Help children act out the story. Be sure to talk about the characters and how they acted throughout the book.

How to Help My 7-Year-Old Read

How to Help Children When they Struggle with Reading

Some seven-year-olds might read below the grade-level benchmark. They may struggle with one or more of the key aspects of literacy. Parents might have tried to help them at home using many different methodologies but perhaps children are still struggling.

How can parents help if reading to them, working on sounds and other tips, games and enrichment activities aren’t helping them to gain fluency or confidence? A lesson-based reading program could help.

Reading programs like Readability can be used at home and addresses multiple areas of reading struggles. Readability requires children to read books and stories aloud, and a built-in AI tutor will help guide lessons.

The AI tutor is programmed with voice recognition software, and it becomes familiar with each child’s voice. This allows the tutor to identify when a child is struggling with a word and needs guidance.

Readability’s virtual tutor also tests children on their comprehension of stories. After the child completes a story or book in Readability, the tutor asks questions about the story. This is how the program measures each child’s reading comprehension.

Children only advance to the next reading level when they have demonstrated proficiency in both reading fluency and comprehension at their current level. Sometimes children may need to stay at a level for a longer duration. Parents should understand that every child will advance at their own pace.

Parents can check their child’s reading success via the Parent Dashboard. This parent-only portal shows all their child’s reading data, including reading fluency and reading level. Parents can integrate all the reading data into a report that can be emailed to the child’s teacher, too. This can help facilitate communication between home and school.

Not every program is a great fit for every child. And parents might want to see a program in action before committing to a subscription. Readability offers a free seven-day trial that allows full access to all the program’s features.

Children can work with the AI tutor, read different stories, and parents can find out if the program meets their child’s needs. To sign up for a free trial, visit www.readabilitytutor.com!

Filed Under: Reading Help

Top Reading Programs for Preschoolers

November 19, 2021

Top Reading Programs

Children are never too young for reading practice! Parents are even encouraged to read to their babies. The more words children hear the better! Reading helps children understand sounds, learn new words and builds language skills, too.

Parents may begin working with their preschoolers to learn early literacy skills like letter recognition, sounds and more. Some children may even be precocious readers and dive into books. Can parents use reading programs for preschoolers, though?

Yes! And the top reading programs for preschoolers may focus on letter recognition/sounds, fluency and possibly even early comprehension skills.

Top Reading Programs

Working with Preschoolers at Home

Preschoolers are usually between the ages of three and five. They’re not quite ready for kindergarten, but they are learning new skills every day. At this age, parents may teach colors and numbers and, of course, the alphabet.

Learning the alphabet introduces children to the letters that make up every word. And when teaching the alphabet, parents also can emphasize the sounds of each letter. Try these activities to help children learn their sounds and alphabet!

Sand Tracing

Sand is a fun and tactile substance for children. Playing in sand or with clay or other unique textures can be a great sensory exercise and help them work on letters, too.

Build a makeshift sandbox using a shoe box or maybe even a gift box. Just fill it with sand or maybe even clay. Choose a substance that children can use their fingers to form or trace letters. Even rice could work.

Parents can show children how to form each letter. Don’t worry about getting this perfect. Children may struggle at first, but they can have fun playing and learning how to form letters.

When writing or tracing each letter, parents can make the sound. Or say an object that identifies each letter. Like “B” for “ball.”

Families that don’t want to deal with the possible mess of sand indoors (if they can’t go outside) also can use dough to creatively form letters. Help children shape each letter. And, again, make the sounds, too.

Sound Scavenger Hunts

For this game, parents will need some foam letters or they might just cut out letters from paper. This is a sound scavenger hunt. Parents can use foam letters as the clues for kids. Help them find or identify things around the house with each letter. Q, x or z may be difficult! Get creative!

Letter Match Game

Make two cards featuring each letter. Then play the match game. Take turns flipping over cards to find the matches of each letter.

Children may struggle at first. Be patient and help them. Soon, though, they may become letter matching pros!

After children can identify uppercase letters, work on the lower case. Match the upper with the lower!

Read Aloud

One of the easiest ways to help children enjoy reading and learning words is to read to them daily! Read several books each day. Aim for five! These don’t have to be large books; preschoolers may still have a short attention span.

Find books with favorite characters or books that include a child’s favorite interests.

Visit the Library

Take children to the library and let them pick out books from the children’s section. This is a fun way to let children explore all the books, characters and adventures.

Attend Story Time

Libraries or local bookstores may host a story time for young children. The event also might include crafts or other activities. This is a great way to encourage even more time with books; plus children may meet a few new friends.

Top Reading Programs

Reading Games Online

Many sites online offer reading games or games that help children to identify letters and/or sounds. PBS Kids can be a great site for educational games, and parents might find even more apps and options via their phone or other device.

Reading games can help preschoolers practice literacy skills like letter identification, sounds, blends and even begin to learn sight words. Plus, games may feature favorite characters or interactive activities that hold a child’s interest.

Some parents, though, might be mindful about how much time their child spends looking at those screens. Today’s children have so many screens that it can be overwhelming for parents. Every family is different when it comes to setting screen time limitations.

KidsHealth.org recommends that preschoolers (ages 2 to 5) should only have one hour of “educational programming” each day. But this doesn’t include video chats.

Apps and games should be educational, and parents may wish to be mindful about their choices. Research games and apps. Read the reviews. And the app description.

Parents also may want to check to see if the apps offer in-app purchases. This means that children could purchase items within the game. Parents should adjust their phone’s settings to ensure that children cannot make purchases (unless parents are ok with these purchases).

When Preschoolers are Precocious Readers

Some preschoolers have a knack for decoding language. They can read fluently and they understand basic books. Some preschoolers also can read or decode way beyond their age or grade-level but might struggle with comprehension.

Other children may read and comprehend way beyond their age or grade level. They may be voracious readers…even at a young age. Children develop at all speeds. Parents should focus on the skills and needs of their child.

If a preschooler is reading fluently, parents may encourage them to read books aloud during reading time together. Parents can help children practice their skills by choosing books that are age appropriate and are interesting to the child.

Encourage young readers to choose their own books at the library. Help children find different topics, too, that align with their favorite interests or hobbies. Parents also can ask children what they want to learn about; are there any places they want to visit?

Choose books that help young readers expand their mind!

Summer Reading Programs

Preschoolers aren’t too young to participate in summer reading programs. Typically, these programs are offered by libraries. The programs encourage children to read a certain number of books or pages during the summer. Goals also could be based on reading minutes.

Programs could offer incentives or prizes when children hit goals during the program. So while the program may encourage children to read 180 minutes total, they may receive incentives or prizes when they hit 60 minutes, 90 minutes, etc.

Every summer reading program may be organized differently. But these programs are usually a fun way to encourage children to read and earn rewards!

Top Reading Programs

Using the Top Reading Programs for Preschoolers

Parents may wish to encourage precocious readers to expand their abilities by using a reading program that is focused on fluency and comprehension. Or parents could use a reading program to help a preschooler begin a reading journey.

Readability is a reading program that is lesson-based and can be used by preschoolers. The program also can grow with young readers, and it can be used through fifth grade.

Readability includes a built-in AI tutor. This tutor helps to direct lessons and provides assistance when the child struggles. The AI tutor features voice-recognition software, and, as the child reads aloud, the tutor learns to identify the child’s voice.

At the end of each story, the tutor will provide a quick quiz that tests the child’s knowledge of the story they read. This is how the program measures reading comprehension.

Reading fluency also is measured during lessons. But how is fluency determined? Typically, reading fluency is measured in words read per minute. Fluency is how precisely a child can read the text. So if they stumble or miss a word, this is deducted from the fluency measurement.

When a child demonstrates proficiency in both fluency and comprehension, they can advance to the next reading level. However, each level consists of multiple books and lessons. Children may take more time on a level. Every child will advance at their own pace.

Readability offers stories and books that are leveled to meet each child’s ability. Stories also are age-appropriate. Older children who struggle with reading won’t feel like they are reading content aimed toward a younger child.

Younger children, though, won’t read stories that are beyond their maturity. Preschoolers can enjoy lots of immersive books and stories through Readability, and they will be exposed to both fiction and nonfiction works.

Stories also include colorful illustrations. This means young readers won’t be overwhelmed by big bricks of text. And they also can click on words in each story to discover the definition! This helps all children expand their vocabulary and build their own language bank!

Parents of young preschoolers might be unsure if a reading program is right for their child. Will the program hold their interest? Will it be too hard?

Readability lets parents try out the program with their child…for free! Readability offers a free seven-day trial period that provides full access to the program and all its features. Explore the stories and become acquainted with the AI tutor!

Ready to get your preschooler excited to read? Begin a free trial with Readability today!

Filed Under: Reading Program

How Can Parents Provide Reading Help for 4th Grade…and Beyond?

November 16, 2021

Reading Help for 4th Grade

As children enter the upper grades of elementary school, reading becomes a bit more difficult. In fourth grade, chapter books are likely the norm for young readers. They may be expected to provide a bit more detail about characters and be prompted to make predictions about what happens next in a story.

Reading builds each year, and, eventually, children read across all subjects; this is why reading is so crucial to learning. If a child is struggling or feeling less than confident with reading skills, how can parents provide reading help for 4th grade and beyond?

Determine What Help a Child Needs

Children can struggle with different aspects of reading. In fourth grade, some may still have difficulties with decoding or reading fluency. Other students may struggle with answering more detailed questions about a book as it relates to comprehension. Then there are children who struggle with both fluency and comprehension.

How a parent provides help may depend on what struggles are identified for the child. If a fourth grader is reading far below grade level and continuing to struggle with letter identification or other early skills, parents may reach out to both the school and the child’s pediatrician and begin the process of identifying any underlying medical conditions (this could include a learning disorder).

In fact, Pediatrics (the journal for the American Academy of Pediatrics) published a paper related to the pediatrician’s role in school performance concerns. It isn’t uncommon for parents to discuss these concerns with the pediatrician. Pediatricians may make referrals to other practitioners (including speech therapists, neuropsychologists, etc.).

However, even if a child doesn’t have a formal medical diagnosis, parents still might address the reading concerns with the school and the child’s teacher. A child could qualify for additional reading intervention, special programs or other accommodations. These accommodations could be part of an Individualized Education Program (IEP) or a 504 Plan.

Receiving additional help may require the child to undergo an evaluation process through the school. This often includes additional testing.

Helping at Home

Depending on a child’s reading struggles, there are many ways that parents can help at home. However, when a child is in fourth grade, parents also can help children understand strategies that could help them as they read.

Try these tips when working with children at home:

  • Create a reading comprehension bookmark that includes thinking prompts. Examples of these bookmarks can be found online.
  • Encourage children to re-read text. Sometimes reading a passage another time can help improve understanding.
  • Chunking blocks of text also could help children as they read.
  • Review content at the end of each chapter. When reading chapter books, children can try to summarize what happened after they complete each chapter.
  • Use sticky notes to make summary notes while reading. This can help children remember what they read.
  • Create graphic organizers that help summarize and organize story details and character traits.

Some children also could want to be speed readers and get through a book quickly. If children are struggling with comprehension, encourage them to take their time and read…and re-read, too! There’s no harm in going back through a chapter to help remember what was read or to just re-read passages to refresh or better understand the plot. Adults do this, too!

When children are struggling with reading, they also should try to read books on their level. Reading a book that is too difficult could cause confusion…or frustration. However, students are often tested for reading and parents are provided with a reading range for their child. This shows the appropriate levels for reading…and, yes, sometimes the ranges do include harder levels.

The key is to not push children to read too difficult text. Challenge is good and it can be healthy; although, if children seem frustrated with a book, it might be wise to choose something else.

Read to a Fourth Grader

It’s OK to Read to a Fourth Grader!

A child may be in fourth grade, but they aren’t too old to hear a story aloud. Parents can still read to their child. Especially if their child wants to read a book that might be too difficult for them. Reading aloud is fun and a great bonding experience.

Reading aloud also allows parents to talk to children as they read. They can ask questions about the story to ensure a child understands the plot. Or just talk about the characters. Have a story conversation! This can encourage a child’s curiosity and make them think deeper about a book.

Before grabbing a book to read aloud, though, ask what they want to read. Even better? Take a trip to the library together and let them choose the book. Parents can even theme read aloud time for upcoming holidays, historic events, etc.

Use the time for entertainment and to broaden a child’s mind!

Using Reading Apps to Provide Reading Help for 4th Grade

Using Reading Apps to Provide Reading Help for 4th Grade

Parents who notice their fourth grader struggling with reading fluency or reading comprehension also could utilize a lesson-based reading program at home. These programs are computer-based and can usually be downloaded via an app.

There are many different reading programs and apps; parents might research their options to find the best for their child. Reading programs like Readability provide comprehensive reading help, although other programs may focus on a specific area of literacy.

Readability can help children who struggle with both fluency and comprehension. Readability’s lessons require children to read stories aloud. The program includes a built-in AI reading tutor that learns each user’s voice. As a child reads, the tutor can offer help or guidance.

The AI tutor also helps measure reading fluency. This is usually denoted in words per minute. The fluency for each child can vary, but each grade level usually has different average ranges. Fluency can be affected when a child struggles with phonics or phonemics.

After a child finishes reading a story, the tutor will ask a series of questions about the plot and the story in general. This is how the tutor measures comprehension.

A child will advance to a more difficult reading level only when they display mastery of both comprehension and fluency at their current level. Readability is designed so that children read at their appropriate level.

Parents may wonder how they know what reading level is the appropriate beginning benchmark for their child with the program. Parents can set their child’s reading level according to the reading level from school or Readability can help test the level.

So how can parents know that a program is effective for their child? With Readability, parents can follow their child’s reading progress through the Parent Dashboard. This area is only visible to parents and displays all the child’s current reading data, including fluency (words read per minute), reading level and even how long they worked on the program.

This reading information also can be compiled into a report and emailed to the child’s teacher. This can help parents communicate the progress they are noticing via the program.

Parents might not want to commit to a program without better understanding how it works. Using an AI tutor, for example, might take some acclimation.

Readability is a subscription-based program, but parents can sign up for a free trial subscription to see the program in action. Free trials are limited to seven days and provide full access to the program and the AI tutor.

Interested in working with the AI tutor? Try Readability today!

Filed Under: Reading Help

Online Programs for Struggling Readers: Free Trials, Virtual Tutors & Games

November 12, 2021

Online Programs for Struggling Readers Free

Parents may have tried nearly every suggestion to help their struggling reader at home. They’ve read to children and asked key questions. They have gone over lists of sight words. Parents have helped children sound out words. They’ve chunked text.

And now they’re exhausted.

Having a struggling student can be difficult for parents, especially when they don’t know how to help their child succeed and hit benchmarks. When parents have literally exhausted their efforts to help their child read, here’s what to know about online programs for struggling readers: free trial offers, virtual tours, and games all can be used anywhere.

Free Games

When parents think of reading tools to help their child to read, free online games is probably the last tool that comes to mind. However, playing reading games via apps could help children with some reading skills.

While these apps probably won’t tackle in-depth reading lessons or focus on comprehension, they can help with letter recognition, sounds and even sight words. Games can be used for these skill-and-drill topics where memorization plays a role in mastery.

Most kids learn the alphabet via memory. We’ve all had the alphabet memorized since probably our preschool days. Knowing the alphabet helps us recognize the letters that play a part in every word.

But the sounds of those letters are a major aspect in reading, too. Knowing letters is only one component in phonics mastery.

Game-based apps offer lessons on letter recognition or maybe even sound matching. Depending on the device a parent owns (Apple, Android, etc.), there may be different available games.

Parents should choose educational games based on their child’s needs and where they need the most practice. Look at app reviews and read the app’s description, too.

For younger children who still need to memorize a list of sight words, games could help! Some games are only focused on sight words. They might be matching games or something unique. Do a quick search for “sight word games” via a phone or tablet store for apps.

The best part about educational games via apps is that many are free to download. Parents should be cautious, though, about in-app purchases. Kids might be able to charge a parent’s account for items within the actual game.

Some parents don’t worry about these purchases, but other parents don’t want their child to be able to click and purchase. Parents can disable the in-app purchases, however, via their phone.

Lesson-Based Apps

Parents also could subscribe to lesson-based reading apps like Readability. These apps aren’t designed as a game. Instead, they are designed with a multi-modal approach to teach reading and help struggling readers gain proficiency and confidence.

Readability includes a built-in AI tutor that acts as a lesson guide or instructor. The tutor is programmed with voice-recognition software and it learns each child’s unique voice. This is important as lessons via Readability are read aloud.

If a child stumbles or has trouble sounding out a word, the tutor will recognize this and provide assistance. When a child completes a story, the tutor also will ask questions to test a child’s understanding. In this way, the tutor—and Readability—is able to measure a child’s comprehension of what they have read.

When children show that they can read fluently at their current level and have understood what they have read, the program will advance them to another more difficult level. However, children stay at a level until they display mastery of both fluency and comprehension.

So how do parents know how their child is progressing?

Parents can access the Parent Dashboard in Readability; only parents can view this portal. The Dashboard shows reading data for their child, and this data includes the current reading level, fluency (measured in words per minute) and how long they actually used the program.

Parents can transfer all this reading data into a report to share with the child’s teacher, too. This can help the teacher know what level the child should be at in the classroom, and it could help both the parents and teacher discern any discrepancies in reading level.

Are Lesson-Based Reading Programs Free?

Parents who want a more traditional approach to helping their child gain reading proficiency may opt for lesson-based programs. But how much do reading apps like Readability cost? Are they free like most games?

Many reading programs—including Readability!—include a free trial period that allows parents and children to use the program to better understand how it works…and if it’s a good fit. Readability offers a seven-day free trial period.

After the trial period, Readability charges per month for a subscription. A Readability monthly subscription is $19.99. However, one account can be used for up to three readers. This means that parents who have multiple children who need reading help can sign up for one subscription for all three children.

Online Programs for Struggling Readers Free

What About School Reading Programs

Parents who are looking for free reading programs might wonder if they can access the reading programs their child uses at school. This depends on the school district.

For example, some districts provide students with the passwords for certain classroom computer programs to allow them access at home. However, some schools might not allow this.

In addition, some schools may want to avoid handing out passwords to certain programs or providing access to certain programs for other reasons. With programs like Accelerated Reader where children need to take quizzes after reading a book, schools could worry about children cheating on these quizzes at home.

Parents can always drop an email to their child’s teacher to find out if their child can access reading programs at home.

Using Reading Games with Reading Programs

Some children might struggle with every aspect of reading. Parents could decide to use both reading games and a reading program like Readability.

All practice can be beneficial for children. Reading games can help them learn sounds and letter recognition in a fun way. These games also could make memorizing a list of sight words much more enjoyable, too.

Parents also shouldn’t stop reading to kids when using apps and reading programs. All reading can help children. Encourage children to read nightly or read to them!

When encouraging their children to read independently, parents should ensure that their child is reading a book at the appropriate reading level. Parents also should encourage children to pick their own books.

Online Programs for Struggling Readers Free

Remember to Make Reading Fun

When children are struggling in any subject, it might feel as though parents need to buckle down and be super serious about the subject. They may make reading lessons required to ensure children can make progress.

Reading should be fun, though. And parents need to remember that while reading is vital to learning, the joy also shouldn’t be lost.

Find ways to ensure that children find happiness in reading. Watch the movie after reading the book. Cook up some fun foods from the story. Or take a book field trip.

Parents also can help children build their own reading fort for a cozy cool reading area. And, of course, children should see parents enjoying a book, too! Parents can set a great example by showing their children that they love a good book!

Filed Under: Reading Program

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