Building Confidence in Reading

   - Techniques to help your child become a confident reader.

When my 3 were little, we were lucky, we lived by the coast so everyday there was always something we could do, but we always also participated in the summer reading challenge purely because it gave us something else to do: a reason to go and get the books, then the books would be read over the coming days.

Mondays would be our day to walk down to the local library and choose the books for that week. Reading for Clara was always more of a chore, but she found the Horrid Henry Books or Flat Stanley were the most bearable as there wasn’t too much effort involved. None of them were ever really great Harry Potter fans even though others were queuing around the block at that time to get their hands on them. (Though it did also always feel that some of it was down to bragging rights of parents to say that their child had read it). (The tree house stories seem to be the modern equivalent of books with little reading effort involved but enjoyed by many).

I can’t remember what J enjoyed reading. Hay was very much into anything with an animal theme.

I think the goal is to read 6 or 8 books over the holidays. For some children that could be a mountain too high. But you could set your own reading challenge with a smaller (or higher) goal. You could even use audiobooks but encourage them to create a storyline of events at the end of it or a character profile of the key characters. Use images and colours if this is preferable to paragraphs and long sentences.

It is suggested that 1 in 5 adults are illiterate, to the extent that they wouldn’t be able to fill in a cheque. An inability to read will have endless impacts on a person’s life not just academically but also socially and emotionally. Even in basic everyday existence, hurdles will be encountered that most people would take for granted - reading street signs, instructions on a packet, instructions for playing games or operating new equipment, reading an invitation, menus….. and the list goes on.

Many children have already learned to loathe reading long before they get the diagnosis as dyslexic.

There is a strong chance that they will try to evade reading by using avoidance techniques such as starting a conversation about something, needing the toilet, finding something else in the room as a distraction etc.

This is potentially because they can’t find a connection between the sounds the letters make and the actual letter. This problem is emphasised when you consider that in the English language one sound can be made in several ways: f/ph or c/k/ck.

These sounds (phonetics = the smallest sound in the English language) cause problems for most people with dyslexia and help will normally be needed. Children with dyslexia will struggle to remember which sound goes with which letter. Consequently, breaking a word down into sounds or recognising how many sounds are in a word can be a real issue.

From here they must establish when a letter sound should be blended into syllables or words.

The complexity of a task that should be easy gets harder by the moment.

Many years ago, someone suggested to me that trying to read for a dyslexic child is like trying to read a piece of text in a foreign language that you have no knowledge of and that has its own alphabet such as Arabic or Chinese. If you are aware of this, the challenge that a dyslexic child faces becomes more understandable.

The order of digits can also appear to rearrange themselves. Letters in words can do the same thing: God can become dog, saw can become was, two can become tow, and so on. This happens because they simply may not see the difference between the letters or the order of the letters and again their weak short-term memory will be of influence.

Some dyslexic children may be able to recognise words in different contexts, though their reading will probably be slow and laborious. This could be because although a child can recognise an individual word in isolation, they don’t have the skill required to combine more than one word, this is possibly due to the struggle of tracking words along a line. They will possibly appear to float and move about on a page. This then creates problems later on with comprehension.

In recent years it has been recommended that various fonts are beneficial for the dyslexic learner as they are easier to read. One has been introduced in the last few days called Dyslexie Font which has been created by a Dutch University student who is himself dyslexic. The idea behind it is by altering each individual letter very slightly it makes it harder for the brain to reflect it, rotate it and alter its appearance.

Colour overlays, coloured ink or typing on coloured paper are suggestions that people feel help “hold the letters still on the page”.

Keeping the amount of writing on a page to a minimum keeps it less cluttered, causing fewer distractions and makes reading easier.

However, how reading should be taught is a matter of controversy. Some suggest that children should be taught the phonics. From here, words, sentences, paragraphs can be built upon a basic foundation (a similar philosophy to learning basic facts in maths before going on to using them). The other side of the argument suggests that words should be learned with meaning rather than a series of linked sounds. My opinion is that a combination of both approaches will be of most benefit to the child.

Fluency is the speed and accuracy with which a person reads and only really comes with excessive reading practice. However, if you can keep the child engaged, motivated and enthusiastic this will be easier. Never set targets too high as you will alienate the child and they will once again shy away from it. Instead, set expectations relatively low so that targets can be met. This will boost confidence and enthusiasm. Find books that the child finds interesting and relate to the child’s level of intelligence, this may be streets away from his reading level, so bear this in mind and choose books with caution. Obviously the best subject content should be chosen by the child themselves, as they have the best knowledge as to what they enjoy.

How to learn

One of the basic facts to remember is that if you teach the child the sound of the letter, they will find it far easier to translate the individual sounds into words.

An example of this is cat.

If it’s sounded out using the names it would be:

See, ay, tee

This clearly isn’t recognisable as a word. If, however, you sound it out using the sounds: c-a-t it suddenly sounds like the word you are trying to translate. Letter names shouldn’t be considered for a long while yet.

To support learning these individual sounds, make the letter physically from clay or pipe-cleaners. Write them in the sand. Make scrapbooks with pages filled with pictures/words starting with the same sound. When you’re writing it, write it as big as possible, use different colours for each letter and have fun with it. Think of words that start with the same sound and make silly rhymes using them; obvious ones may include: six sizzling sausages or Mary might make muffins. Many dyslexic children will struggle to hear these individual sounds so bear with them whilst they become confident and learn them.

Remember once again, motivation and encouraging the child’s enthusiasm is paramount. Keep it fun and stay calm even when you feel like pulling your hair out.

I was reading a blog post from a dyslexic person the other day that highlighted the fact that “a normal person” wouldn’t do something they couldn’t do, they would just turn their back on it. (For example I have no co-ordination skills what’s so ever, so I avoid ball games at all costs. Yet a dyslexic person is being asked / demanded all the time to do things that they find challenging.

Once the child is happy that they know the names and sounds of each individual letter, start looking at simple cvc words (consonant, vowel, consonant).

Games I use to do this include:

Pairs

Create a set of cards (probably about a dozen). One set will have a word, possibly starting with a sound that you will have been concentrating on, the other set will have a corresponding picture. You both take it in turns to pick up two cards. If you pick up a matching pair, you keep these and have another go. If they don’t match, place them back down and the other person has a go. You may prefer to play it with 2 sets of identical words to match rather than matching a picture and a word.

The board game or snakes and ladders

Create a playing board which is roughly 6 squares by 5. If you’re playing snakes and ladders, write a word on each. If you are playing the board game, write a simple forfeit on some such as miss ago, have another turn, go back 3 spaces, etc. and words on the rest of the squares. Draw in your snakes and ladders if appropriate.

As you move around the board, you read the word that you land on. Guide the child as necessary. Don’t rush them and offer praise when necessary.

Slowly as the child becomes more confident you will be able to move on to reading words and sentences. Don’t rush this, you have started to build their confidence and you don’t want to knock it out of them again…

Probably the best place to start is again with games such as pairs. You may choose not to turn them over, just use it as a matching game. One card might state: The Fat Cat. The corresponding card might have a picture of a ridiculously fat cat on it. You need to match up the two corresponding words.

This could also be done by having 2 columns on a piece of paper with the picture and the sentences muddled up. Again, you need to draw lines to match them back up.

Recognising print in the environment is another great way to practice. Not only will it help make letters and words more familiar but they can also be seen in various places and contexts.

Help and encourage as much as is needed.

With all these games: Practice, practice, practice is what’s key. The more they practice and get better, the more confident they will become. The more confident they become the more willing they will be to try new challenges and progress… But progression must be done at the speed of the child, not the pace the supporting adult sees as acceptable and never compare one child’s ability to that of another, we are all good at different things. That’s what makes us all individuals.

When you start formal reading with a child, audio books are a godsend. Not only will this offer them access to a whole range of books, but if they are familiar to hearing the text before they try to read it for themselves, it will remove some of the fear.  Also allow the child to “read” a written copy of the text alongside the audio version (or yourself)as this will offer confidence. It’s a bit like when a toddler takes their few steps, you may hold their hand and you will definitely be there to catch them. The same applies here with reading. Boost and support a child’s confidence every step of the way. In relation to everything you do this will probably have the biggest effect.

The reading game

I have played this many times and it has (nearly) always been a hit.

Choose a theme that the child enjoys such as football. On a piece of paper draw or stick 6 footballs, 6 goal posts and 6 whistles in random order. Place most around the edge and the remaining few across the centre. This is your board. Choose who will be the goal, who will be the goal posts and the whistle is a safe space. You roll the dice and move the number of spaces dictated. Each picture is a space. You can move in any direction but you can’t change direction mid throw. If anybody lands on a goal post, the person who chose the goal post reads a short section of the book. If someone lands on the football, the same applies and if someone lands on the whistle, you’re safe. No one has to read.

I’ve recently found using simple joke books quite affective as the amount of reading required is only minimal and they are generally enjoyable in their content.

Comprehension

This is defined in the Oxford English Dictionary as:

“The setting of questions on a set text to test understanding, as a school exercise: [as modifier]: comprehension exercises”

Tasks such as this require the child to not only understand the meaning of a singular word, but also the meaning of that word in the context of other words within a sentence and a paragraph, considering that sentence structure, genre, punctuation can all effect the meaning of a word.

Many children struggle with comprehension. For non-dyslexic children the issues normally arise with trying to understand what is meant by the passage or with attention issues. However, the dyslexic children will often find understanding the text fairly straight forward but will struggle with decoding the individual words. An easy solution to this is to allow the child to listen to the text often, making them incredibly good at comprehension as they can see the bigger picture and notice the ironies, metaphors, humor and symbolism that is often missed by so many.

As with anything, ensure the child is motivated. Try and focus on texts that the child will find enjoyable: be it stories; crime, romance, science fiction, or life stories, or some other form of factual book based on a subject which they are interested in.

Spend time discussing the main themes in the text, the characters and other important details. Use mind maps or illustrations to make notes on the characters. Make illustrations of the main settings in the book so that it is both more interesting, and long lengths of writing can be avoided too. Discuss what has happened and why the author perhaps opened the book, chapter or paragraph in such a fashion or predict what might happen next.

Ask the reader questions and encourage them to ask questions in return. Perhaps make a quiz for each other on the text, this way you can assess their understanding and it will be more relaxed than a formal test/assessment.

 Each week we send out an email on a Monday focused on supporting primary aged children with their maths and English. On Thursday, we send one out for the parents of secondary school children. If you are interested in receiving them (you can unsubscribe at anytime) drop me a message: info@clarajamestutoring.co.uk and we will be sure to get them to you