How to help your child who is struggling with reading

Caroline Erdos, Literacy Expert

Dr. Erdos, speech-language pathologist, is the professional coordinator of Speech-Language Pathology at Sir Wilfrid Laurier School Board where she is also a special education consultant. Additionally, she is an SLP advisor for Speech-Language & Audiology Canada. Previously, she was the Advancing Learning in Differentiation & Inclusion coordinator for the 10 English school boards in Quebec, where she supported resource teachers through various professional development initiatives. With over 25 years’ experience as an SLP practicing in health and education, her areas of expertise include bi/multilingualism, reading impairment, language disorder and complex profiles of learning disability. Caroline has lectured at several Canadian universities. She has also been invited to present at numerous conferences across North America and has written and collaborated on several publications.

Pandemic-related restrictions have resulted in many children having learning delays. In the area of reading, this is especially true for children who were in the early stages of learning to read when restrictions were put in place.

Here is what you can do to help your child:

Go to https://fcrr.org/student-center-activities and select your child’s grade level. Next,

1. select Phonological Awareness (pre-K/K4), Phonemic Awareness (K & gr1) or Phonics and Fluency (gr2+) if your child:

• is unable to or struggles to sound out written words

• makes many sound errors when reading (substitution, omission, addition, reversal)

• reads choppily

• makes up or guesses words when reading

• reads very slowly

2. select Comprehension if your child:

• sounds good when reading (few sound errors), but is unable to explain what was read or answer questions

3. select Comprehension and look for inference activities if your child:

• sounds good when reading (few sound errors), but struggles with keeping track of the information and reading ‘between the lines’

4. select Vocabulary if your child:

• sounds good when reading (few sound errors), but many of the vocabulary words are not understood

These additional free evidence-based online resources may also be helpful to you and your child:

https://haskinsglobal.org/resource-library/ 

https://meadowscenter.org/library/search-results?category:type=27 

Don’t forget to have fun!