Tag: reading skills

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Learning to spell and learning to read rely on many shared skills and foundational knowledge. The relationships between graphemes (written letters) and their phonemes (sounds) are critical components of both spelling and reading instruction. This relationship is so intertwined that research has shown that the ability to read automatically (or “by sight”) is strongly dependent on a child’s ability to orthographically map words by spelling patterns. The processing of learning to spell aids in orthographic mapping and ultimately fluent reading. 

Spelling skills also apply directly to written expression. Writers who focus a significant portion of their cognitive energy on how to spell a word often have poorer writing skills. The cognitive load on non-proficient spellers makes idea generation and composition generally difficult and tedious. 

Some have argued that the invention of spell check and other electronic aids have made the need for spelling skills obsolete. While these are certainly amazing tools, they cannot replace spelling instruction. First and foremost, a student using spell check does not get the added benefit of orthographic mapping and increased reading fluency. Secondly, spell checkers are generally only about 50% effective at correcting the spelling of a student with a learning disability. For a spell check program to be effective you must be able to get close to the actual spelling of the word and many students are too far off for the program to guess their word. Finally, spell check is generally less effective with homophones like here vs. hear. 

The research is clear, spelling is a vital skill that aids in both reading and written expression. Consequently, it must be part of a multi-sensory, research based, structured literacy program. However, for many students, spelling may not be a high interest task. If your child needs spelling support, here are three fun ways you can make spelling more engaging at home. 

  • Play Hangman: This old classic is still a current favorite and is easy to modify both in style and content (for example, in the winter you can build a snowman instead of the traditional game). This is also a great way to talk about common letters in spelling and spelling patterns. For example, if there is a <g> at the end of a word, you can talk to you r child about common word endings and suffixes that have a <g> at the end, like <ing>. You can also discuss that every syllable must have a vowels. Another options is to use it as an opportunity to point out common vowel teams, consonant digraphs, and other age-appropriate spelling patterns.
  • Play Scrabble: Kids of all ages love this word building game. If you have a younger child or a weaker speller, you can form teams and work on word building with a partner. If your child spells a word incorrectly you can talk about the allowable spelling patterns of certain sounds (like the long <a> sound for example) and discuss what is correct.
  • Talk About Word Origin: Many “trick words” have a rational for their spelling. For example, if your child struggles to spell <come> or <some>, you can show them pictures of “fancy text” and talk about the “scribal o” issue that led to an <o> being used instead of a <u>. You can also examine word relationships like how “people” is related to “population” and that is why there is an <o> in the word. Always keep in mind that spelling is for meaning and often shows word origin and relationships between words. This can make many words that seem like “tricks” make sense for children (and parents too). 

Spelling is a vital literacy skill. It also plays a role in our everyday lives that we often take for granted. Tasks like filing alphabetically, writing notes, and even posting on social media require strong spelling skills. Often anything more than a few small errors is equated with a lack of intelligence and a job application with spelling errors has an 80% chance of being thrown away without a second glance. 

If your child struggles with spelling, at any age, they need explicit, systematic spelling interventions. Our highly trained clinicians can help get them where they need to be. For more information on how we can help with reading, spelling, and written expression, contact us today.  

Becky Welsch

RW&C, LLC

www.rwc4reading.com


Becky Welsch’s certifications include the CEERI Tier I Qualification Exam (aligned with the International Dyslexia Association’s Knowledge and Practice Standards for Teachers of Reading). She has completed the Associate Level Training through the Academy of Orton-Gillingham Professionals and Educators for one-on-one instruction with students using the Orton-Gillingham methodology. 
Becky has a Master’s Degree in K-8 Education She is certified to teach in the state of Arizona and has specialist endorsements in the areas of Reading and Structured English Immersion. 


Becky began teaching in the Arizona public school system in 2007. She worked in both primary and secondary grade levels as a reading intervention teacher and teacher mentor. Becky has training in Spaulding Phonics, DIBELS Next, The 95% Group, and other whole group, small group, and one-on-one intervention programs. 
In 2014, she took the leap into using teletherapy to deliver one-on-one Structured Literacy tutoring. She has accumulated hundreds of hours working 1:1 with students via teletherapy. 

Sources:

https://www.readingrockets.org/article/how-spelling-supports-reading

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Phonemic awareness (PA) is the foundation of reading success, yet many schools and reading programs do not emphasize these critical skills and many parents may have never even heard of them. Phonemic awareness is the ability to hear and manipulate sounds in words without the association with specific letters. One way to think about phonemic awareness activities is that you should be able to do them in the dark. There is no need to read or use letters, just sounds.

A child’s ease in acquiring reading skills is closely related to strong phonemic awareness skills. In fact, according to the National Panel on Reading Research, strong phonemic awareness is one of the single most important predictors of reading success. Unfortunately, for our struggling readers, phonemic awareness is often not explicitly taught beyond the second grade if it is even addressed at all. 

Older children who struggle with reading, spelling, and written expression often have an underlying phonological weakness related to their ability to process, identify, and manipulate the sounds in words. In fact, nearly 88% of children with dyslexia have a foundational phonological weakness. When we address this weakness, we give them the tools necessary to become proficient readers and spellers.  

Phonemic awareness deficits have also been found to be the cause of weak decoding, fluency, comprehension, and spelling issues in older students who struggle with reading. In addition, research has shown that the explicit teaching of phonemic awareness skills like segmenting, blending, and manipulating sounds has the greatest effects on spelling improvement with older readers, more so than any other single intervention. In addition, with older students in particular, phonics instruction alone may not be enough to close the gap with reading and spelling skills. They need direct, explicit, and multi-sensory instruction in PA skills in order to make progress. 

Since phonemic awareness is so critical to helping older students improve their reading and spelling skills, it is an essential component of any intervention program. However, not all interventions will incorporate PA instruction effectively. In order for phonemic awareness weaknesses to be effectively remediated, interventions must be explicit. Students with severe deficits and those with dyslexia will often not “catch on” naturally, they need direct modelling of PA skills.  

Another key component of an effective phonemic awareness intervention is that it should be short in duration when compared to the time devoted to other aspects of reading intervention like phonics, fluency, or comprehension. Older students showed the greatest improvements with programs that were short in the amount of time they took per intervention session and that were differentiated to address each student’s specific needs. This led to the most significant improvements with decoding and spelling skills. 

It is absolutely crucial that phonemic awareness interventions for older students focus on the specific skills that are most closely aligned with reading and spelling improvement. Here are a few key areas that effective PA interventions should address: 

  • Phoneme Segmentation: When we speak, many of the sounds in words end up being co-articulated. This leads to difficulty with spelling and decoding because children may have trouble segmenting out individual sounds. If you cannot stretch out individual sounds, spelling and reading will be difficult processes. Older students with a phonological deficit need direct, explicit, multi-sensory instruction on how to segment sounds within words and within syllable parts of larger words, as well as opportunities to apply this skill. 
  • Phoneme Blending: Simply stretching out the sounds in a word is not reading; the sounds must be blended back together to create a word. Students who struggle with poor spelling and inaccurate decoding must have direct modeling on how to blend segmented sounds back together. In addition, they need multiple opportunities to practice and review this skill. 
  • Phoneme Manipulation: Students also need to have instruction in how to change sounds in words to create new words. It is critical they receive direct instruction in changing beginning, middle, and ending sounds to create new words. This skill in particular has been shown to have a strong impact on spelling and reading improvement. In students with reading deficits, medial sounds can be particularly challenging and they need both direct instruction as well as multiple practice opportunities with this skill. 

With nearly 55% of 4th grade students, 58% of 8th grade students, and 53% of 12th grade students NOT reaching reading proficiency standards, it is evident that reading intervention is necessary in older grades. Often, these students have significant phonological gaps that must be addressed by an effective intervention program. In short, PA skills are not just for the K-2 crowd, they are necessary for ALL struggling readers. With older students, it is critical that the need for phonemic awareness remediation be incorporated into an intervention program that is designed to explicitly address their areas of weakness and remediate them.  

Here at RW&C, our highly qualified reading clinicians know how to incorporate phonemic awareness skills into every lesson and for every student. Our program incorporates explicit instruction for all students so that they can increase their reading and spelling skills. Contact us today for more information on how we can help your child improve their reading and spelling, regardless of their age or needs. 


Becky Welsch
RW&C, LLC
www.rwc4reading.com

Becky Welsch’s certifications include the CEERI Tier I Qualification Exam (aligned with the International Dyslexia Association’s Knowledge and Practice Standards for Teachers of Reading). She has completed the Associate Level Training through the Academy of Orton-Gillingham Professionals and Educators for one-on-one instruction with students using the Orton-Gillingham methodology. 

Becky has a Master’s Degree in K-8 Education She is certified to teach in the state of Arizona and has specialist endorsements in the areas of Reading and Structured English Immersion. 

Becky began teaching in the Arizona public school system in 2007. She worked in both primary and secondary grade levels as a reading intervention teacher and teacher mentor. Becky has training in Spaulding Phonics, DIBELS Next, The 95% Group, and other whole group, small group, and one-on-one intervention programs. 

In 2014, she took the leap into using teletherapy to deliver one-on-one Structured Literacy tutoring. She has accumulated hundreds of hours working 1:1 with students via teletherapy. 

Sources: 

https://www.nationsreportcard.gov/reading/nation/achievement/

https://www.nichd.nih.gov/sites/default/files/publications/pubs/nrp/Documents/report.pdf

Overcoming Dyslexia by Sally Shaywitz 

Multisensory Teaching of Basic Language Skills by Judith Birsch 

images from pexel.com

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As parents, we want to make sure that our children have every chance to succeed and have all the support they need in place. One key component of ensuring academic success is to support literacy skills at home. If you are not a literacy specialist, it can be difficult to know exactly what to do to promote reading at home. Luckily, literacy skills can be practiced in a variety of fun ways that are both effective and engaging. 

Here are just a few ways to support your children at home and strengthen their reading skills. Keep in mind, these are activities that will help support skills your child already has acquired. If your child has a reading issue or needs to make forward progress, they may require more intervention and specialized knowledge than these activities offer. If this is the case, tutoring with a Structured Literacy™ intervention program is recommended. 

  • Flash card matching games: Kids of all ages love to play games with flashcards and they are easy to make using index cards. If your child is younger, use phonics patterns to practice skills they are working on like long a, blends, or consonant digraphs. To play, write several words containing the desired spelling pattern. Players take turns flipping over and reading a card. If they make a match, they keep the word. The player with the most matches when all of the cards are gone is the winner. Here is a short list of grade level appropriate spelling patterns to help you create your game. If your child is older, this can be a great way to practice base words, roots, and affixes. Write several root words and affixes on cards, players flip over each card, read the root or affix and explain its meaning, if they make a match, they get to keep it and the player with the most matches at the end wins. A few common prefixes you can use are <con-> (with or together), <un-> (not, opposite of), <re-> (again). Common roots include <struct> (to build), <ject> (to throw), and <cept> (to take).  For suffixes you can use inflectional endings which change the tense of a word like  <-s>, <-es>, <-ing>, or <-ed> or you can use suffixes such as <-ion> which turns a verb into a noun. Please note this is not a complete list and the roots and affixes your child needs to know will vary by grade level. You can also play memory match using sight words that your child needs to practice. 

  • Swatting games: I used these for independent practice in the classroom and kids love it! Write words using a phonics pattern, sight words, vocabulary words, or bases and affixes on pieces of paper and tape them on the floor. Give each player a fly swatter or they can use their hand. The referee says a word or definition and the players race to be the first to hit the corresponding word on the floor. This game is fast paced, action packed, and can be adapted for all skills and levels. 
  • Practice phonemic awareness: If your child is younger, read lots of rhyming books and books that have a natural rhythm and cadence. “Chick a Chick a Boom Boom!” and Dr. Seuss series are great for this activity. Have your child repeat words and phrases with you and ask them to give you additional rhyming words. You can have your child segment sounds with a rubber band and then blend them back together while releasing the tension. Legos can be used as well with your child pulling down one block for each sound and the running their finger under them as they blend the sounds back together.  Stick with two, three, and four sound words which can be real or nonsense words.  One example would be to progress from “at” to “lat” to “slat.” Clap out syllables in longer words. While phonemic awareness activities should focus on sounds, not letters,  these skills do transfer to reading and spelling. If your child is struggling to spell a word,  these activities can help. Ask them to segment the sounds in single syllable words or the syllables in multi-syllabic words. This will help them ensure they write the correct grapheme for the phoneme in the word. For more ideas on promoting phonemic awareness, check out our blog here. 

  • Make it multi-sensory: There are a variety of ways to make literacy practice multi-sensory and help those skills stick. Use words with a phonics pattern, base words, root words, vocabulary words, whatever your child needs to practice and follow these easy  and fun ways to activate other senses.
    •  Use a bumpy surface. An embroidery board is a great option and can be found at most craft stores. Have children use their index and middle finger to trace letters as they say the sound and letter name. Display the letter using index cards or a projector to incorporate the visual system as well.  
    • Use sand trays. Like an embroidery board, a sand tray provides a rough tactile surface. Have your child trace letters or words as they say the sounds and letter names. 
    •  Use shaving cream. Put some shaving cream on a non-porous surface like a counter-top or window. Your child can trace words and letters in it. This is a fun, messy activity that provides sensory feedback as they trace spelling patterns. 
  • Read, read, read: listen to audio books, read aloud, and have your child read books that are appropriate for their reading level and decoding skills. Ask questions while you read and practice rereading to encourage fluency. You can also practice poems and songs to improve fluency and give your kid some diversity in their reading material. Maps, cookbooks, and directions are great ways to practice reading functional text.  If you are feeling extra creative, you could even create a treasure hunt for your kids.

As you can see, it is possible to have fun and practice literacy at home. Literacy skills are so much more than sitting and reading in silence. Practicing with your child will help support skills they have and may keep them from regressing. 

However, if you  want your child to make forward progress or they need extra support in reading, our online tutoring program can be a good option to supplement literacy activities at home. Contact us today for more information. 



Becky Welsch
RW&C, LLC
www.rwc4reading.com

Becky Welsch is currently an Associate in Training with the Orton-Gillingham Academy of Practitioners and Educators. She has a Master’s degree in K-8 Education. She is certified to teach in the state of Arizona and has special endorsements in the areas of English Language Learners and Reading.

 Becky has worked with struggling readers in the primary as well as secondary grades. Her experience also includes intensive reading intervention both in person as well as with online tele-therapy. 

images from pexel.com


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Multisensory, structured language education is the most commonly endorsed and research-based approach for literacy education for students who struggle with reading. It includes methodologies like Orton-Gillingham instruction as well as programs based on those methodologies. Several years ago, the International Dyslexia Associated formally adopted the name “Structured Literacy™™” as an umbrella term to describe all programs that use a structured, systematic, and multisensory approach to reading (International Dyslexia Association). 

While the term Structured Literacy™ may be new, the approach to teaching reading is not. Samuel Orton conducted groundbreaking research in the 1920s on multisensory, systematic instruction and documented its success in teaching students with reading difficulties. An extensive and growing body of research demonstrates that the Structured Literacy™ approach is effective in reading intervention for students with  reading difficulties (Birsh, 2005). In addition, newer research shows that Structured Literacy™ is a more effective approach than whole language for all students, including those with typical reading abilities (Lorimor-Easley & Reed, 2019). 

Although the principles behind Structured Literacy™ and the methodology themselves are not new, it is also not well-known within the general education community. In fact, many schools still use leveled readers with heavy picture clues to teach reading in both whole and small groups. Phonics has become more mainstream yet is often not explicit and systematic. Teachers and educators have the best interest of their students at heart, yet do not always have the professional knowledge and resources to deliver the most effective instruction. 

In order to effectively remediate reading issues and teach reading, it is important to understand what Structured Literacy™ is and how it can be effective. First and foremost, Structured Literacy™ is structured. It is systematic and emphasizes phonological awareness, phonics, decoding and spelling along with morphology, fluency, and comprehension. Phonics follows a logical scope and sequence that explicitly teaches each spelling pattern. 

Using the Structured Literacy™ approach, students are encouraged to use decoding skills and phonics patterns to sound out words, rather than guessing at words based on context or pictures. The logic behind this strategy is two-fold. First and foremost, even in early readers, the pictures are not always a reliable way to figure out a word. For example, if there is a picture of a duck in water with the sentences “The duck swims,” a student could come up with a  variety of words that would make sense based on the pictures. Anything from “The duck splashes” to “The duck eats” could make sense depending on the illustration, but neither are correct. If students are taught proper decoding, they can read the word swim rather than guess at reasonable alternatives. A second reason that using the pictures is ineffective is that eventually the text becomes too complex to be encapsulated in an illustration. As students get older and text complexity increases, those who cannot decode often have few strategies to rely on and their reading level tends to not keep up with that of their peers who are able to use decoding strategies (Birsch, 2005). 

As a reading clinician, I can tell you that the “check the picture” strategy is very rarely effective, even when texts have significant picture clues. I have had students make wild guesses that often do not even start with the same initial sound as the word they are attempting to “read.” For example, in a book I was recently reading with a student, the text said “They sat…” the student read the words “They ate…” which based on the picture, made sense however it was not the correct word and did not even have the same initial sound.

The Structured Literacy™ approach is also multisensory. This is a buzz word that tends to get thrown around a lot without full understanding of what it entails. In the Structured Literacy™ approach, multisensory means that it engages the visual, auditory, and tactile centers of the brain, often simultaneously. Students are encouraged to use manipulatives and movement to help reinforce sounds and spelling patterns. Some programs may use colored tiles or tapping sounds to incorporate movement. In addition, during auditory and visual drills, students are encouraged to trace letters using their index and middle finger while saying the sounds, letter names, and looking at the letter. This engages all three critical areas of the brain while learning and reinforcing letter sounds, names, and formations. 

Another way the Structured Literacy™ methodology incorporates multi-sensory activities is by emphasizing handwriting and correct letter formation during instruction. Often students with reading issues as well as writing issues struggle to form letters. This extra load on their processing centers makes writing nearly impossible. By teaching explicit handwriting skills the load on a student’s working memory is decreased and they can focus on the content they need to write, rather than the writing process. 

The Structured Literacy™ framework is also cumulative, meaning that skills are constantly reviewed and spiraled in so that students have adequate practice time. Once a student learns a skill, that skill is not dropped from explicit instruction until it has been fully mastered. For example, if a student is working on silent e words, once that lesson is over the reading clinician does not move on and stop practicing. The skill is spiraled into reading and spelling so that the student can review and internalize it in multiple forms and at both low and high levels of complexity.

A final key component (for the purposes of this blog at least) is that Structured Literacy™ is delivered by a highly trained professional. Effective Structured Literacy™ instruction requires more than an 8-hour professional development where you look through the curriculum. Our reading clinicians all have credentials that align with International Dyslexia Association standards for working with students with reading difficulties. They attend professional development and engage in reading and discussing current reading research. In short, they are experts in the field of reading intervention. 

If you are looking for a high quality, one-on-one Structured Literacy™ program for a student or your own child, RW&C’s program may be the right fit for you. We offer reading, writing, and spelling remediation services. Our online program is flexible and built to fit your needs. Contact us today for more information.

Becky Welsch
RW&C, LLC
www.rwc4reading.com



Becky Welsch has a Master’s degree in K-8 Education. She is certified to teach in the state of Arizona and has special endorsements in the areas of English Language Learners and Reading.
Becky has worked with struggling readers in the primary as well as secondary grades. Her experience also includes intensive reading intervention both in person as well as with online teletherapy. 

Resources:

Multisensory Teaching of Basic Language Skills, Judith Birsch 2005

“Structured Literacy: A New Term to Unify Us,” International Dyslexia Association 

“An Explanation of Structured Literacy, and a Comparison to Balanced Literacy,” Nina Lorimor-Easley and Deborah Reed 2019

Photos from www.pexels.com

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In many classrooms, reading instruction takes the center stage during allotted literacy minutes and spelling can become an afterthought. It is often assumed that if students learn to read, they will spell naturally. This leads to many teachers and educators giving little importance to the direct instruction of spelling throughout the day. However, this view of spelling fails to recognize the vital role it plays in learning to read. Explicit, multi-sensory spelling instruction is an essential component of Structured Literacy instruction. 

Before we dive into discussing how spelling can be effectively taught to children of all ages, let’s first look at the research on spelling. First and foremost, spelling enhances reading instruction through the reinforcement of phonemes and letter patterns. Learning to spell requires explicit instruction (Moats, 1995). It is not a skill that children will naturally acquire as they learn to read. 

It should also be noted that there is a strong correlation between spelling and reading ability. In 2017, Treiman concluded that spelling knowledge facilitated vocabulary growth and increased a child’s word recognition speed. This indicates that children who are more proficient spellers will be able to read more quickly and will know and understand more words than those who struggle with spelling. An additional study found a strong link between spelling skills and reading comprehension. Students spelling abilities were correlated even more strongly with their reading comprehension abilities than automatic word recognition (Mehta et al., 2005). These results demonstrate that not only does spelling increase word recognition speed, but that it might be even more important than automatic word reading in increasing reading comprehension skills. 

The research demonstrates that explicit spelling instruction is crucial for children to become proficient readers. However, it is important to note here that this does not mean that children should be given a list a words to memorize each week. Spelling is a complex and interactive process that requires both phonological and orthographic knowledge. Put a bit more simply, children need to be able to hear, segment, and blend sounds in spoken language and then transfer those sounds to a written form. 

Like all literacy skills, spelling develops on a continuum and is not a simple process. There are a variety of skills that must be mastered in order for children to become proficient spellers. Firstly, students must have a strong phonetic foundation. Phonetics refers to the characteristics of individual speech sounds that make up spoken words. In order to represent spoken words in writing, children must be able to hear and segment speech sounds. For example, if a child needs to correctly spell the word “cat,” they must first be able to identify and segment the three sounds in the word. If a child struggles with spelling, the first issue to examine is their phonological awareness as it is impossible to be a proficient speller without having a solid understand of phonetic skills. For more information on phonemic awareness and ideas on how to strengthen it, check out our blog here. 

In addition to be able to produce and segment phonemes, children then have to associate those phonemes to graphemes, their written representation. This is true for all levels of spelling instruction. From simple, phonetically regular words like “cat” to advanced spelling patterns children must know what spelling patterns are possible to make that sound, which are allowable in the rules of English, and which are most common in order to choose the most likely spelling patterns. For example, if a student were asked to spell the word “boy,” they need to understand the two sounds in word are /b/ and /oy/. They then need to know the possible spelling patterns to make those sounds which would be “boi” or “boy.” Finally, they would need to understand that in written English, words do not end with the letter “i” (with a few exceptions) so “boi” is not an allowable spelling of the word. This requires direct and explicit orthographic instruction with direct modeling of how to transfer those skills from reading to spelling.

Another critical skill in spelling is morphology which is the study of morphemes. A morpheme is the smallest unit of language that has meaning. A one-syllable base word like jump is a morpheme. Other derivatives of this word can be created using suffixes like “jumping, jumped, jumps.” Phonetic spellers often spell the word “jumped” as “jumpt” because that is phonetically what the word sounds like. Explicit instruction in morphology includes systematic instruction in suffixes and inflectional endings like “-ed” so that students know even though they hear the /t/ sound, it is a past tense word and therefore spelled with “ed.” 

Direct and explicit instruction in prefixes, roots, and suffixes facilitates students’ ability to spell multisyllabic words and is critical for helping them develop higher level spelling skills. An effective Structured Literacy program includes the study of morphology at all levels. 

It is also important to understand that English is a mix of different languages. Many people, parents and educators alike, will say that certain words are “an exception.” Often times, the words they are referencing are not exceptions, they are simply derived from a different language. For example, words of Greek origin use the <ph> digraph to make the /f/ sound. Words with Latin roots make up around 55% of the language and are often comprised of a base connected with a prefix or a suffix. Anglo-Saxon root words comprise around 20% of the language and are usually one-syllable words that name common objects. They are also responsible for many of those pesky silent letters like “kn” and “-tch.” 

Knowing the origin of a word can aid students in understanding its spelling. For example, take the word “come,” it sounds like it should have a “u” instead of an “o” as the vowel. Well, guess what, originally it did. However due to scribal writing styles, it was too hard to read when it was written so the “u” was changed to an “o.” The “e” was added at the end to show its relationship to the past tense form of the word, “came.” While this may seem complicated to an adult who has the spelling memorized, it can help the written language make sense to a child who is struggling. 


Formal spelling instruction must include all these elements to be effective. It must include multiple instructional experiences with phonological skills like blending and segmenting,  as well as opportunities to use phonics skills and invented spelling in the primary grades. All spelling patterns need to be introduced directly, explicitly, and systematically while using multisensory instructional techniques. The visual, auditory, and kinesthetic parts of the brain must be engaged simultaneously during spelling instruction. Students should also have multiple opportunities to analyze and sort words and there needs to be a multisensory procedure for learning irregular words. Word sorts that are approached from a visual skill are ineffective. In order to become automatic in any spelling pattern, the students must engage all modalities while reading the word and analyzing the orthographic patterns. Simply looking at the word and transferring it to a specific column will not enable the students to become proficient spellers. 

Our online reading program incorporates the best practices in spelling instruction and uses spelling as a tool to enhance reading and literacy skills. For us, spelling is never an afterthought. Explicit spelling instruction by a trained Reading Clinician is life-changing for many of our students. We teach them the language;  we do not ask them to memorize words and rules. 

If your child struggles with spelling, don’t rely on rote memorization and do not accept the answer that it will come with reading development. Spelling needs to be explicitly taught. Contact us today for more information and to get your child the help they need. 

Becky Welsch
RW&C, LLC
www.rwc4reading.com



Becky Welsch has a Master’s degree in K-8 Education. She has completed 64 hours of Orton-Gillingham training at the Associate Level with the Academy of Orton-Gillingham Professionals and Educators. She is certified to teach in the state of Arizona and has special endorsements in the areas of English Language Learners and Reading.
Becky has worked with struggling readers in the primary as well as secondary grades. Her experience also includes intensive reading intervention both in person as well as with online teletherapy. 

Resources: Multisensory Teaching of Basic Language Skills by Judith Birsch

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As parents, we are our child’s number one advocate and are often the first to notice when they are having issues. This is particularly true in the area of reading development. Often parents may begin to notice warning signs in their children as early as preschool, yet they are often told by teachers and educational specialist to wait and see. Yet, as I have stated before, this approach is ineffective for the majority of kids with reading difficulties. Early identification means early intervention which leads to better outcomes and remediation for your child. 

However, many parents are not literacy experts and don’t always know what to look for when it comes to red flags for a reading difficulty. In fact, some of you might be wondering what to look for in a preschool student because, well, most three-year-olds are not reading so how can they have a reading difficulty? 

I understand your frustration and I want you to be able to effectively advocate for and make decisions about your child. So, I put together a list of some warning signs of dyslexia at various ages. It is very important to note a few things though. First and foremost, many of us may have one or two of these characteristics that does not mean that we all have dyslexia. Usually a child with a significant reading issue like dyslexia will have multiple characteristics that persist over time and make learning difficult. It is also important to note that this list is not exhaustive and if you are concerned about your child, it is important to get them Structured Literacy intervention to help remediate their difficulties. 

With that being said, here are a few common characteristics of dyslexia in preschool and kindergarten aged children:

  • Late learning to talk and slow to learn new words – if your child was a late talker without an apparent hearing difficulty, this can be an early sign of dyslexia as oral and written language are related.
  • Difficulty following directions – if you ask your child to perform directions that are age appropriate and they have difficulty remembering what to do, this can be an early sign of dyslexia. Of course, I think all preschool parents can relate here, it can also just be a sign of being three. However, if you know that your child is not being willfully defiant, it can be a warning sign of language processing issues. 
  • Avoids letters despite being explicitly taught them –  if you have worked on the alphabet with your five-year-old daily yet they only know two letter names, this is a sign that they are at risk for reading difficulties. 
  • Difficulty rhyming – by age 4 or 5, children should be able to identify and produce rhyming words, if they cannot they may have a reading issue like dyslexia. 
  • Cannot recall letter sounds – if your child is in kindergarten and does not know letter sounds it can be red flag for reading issues. 

As your child gets older, these signs generally persist and are compounded by some of these in grades 1st through 3rd :

  • Cannot recall sight words even after practice
  • Poor phonics skills 
  • Inaccurate and slow reading
  • Difficulty sequencing – this applies to sequencing events in a story as well as days, months, time, etc. In some cases, your child may even have difficulty with words like before or after saying things like they brushed their teeth “after” they went to bed. 
  • Poor spelling skills – this is an especially important indicator if they eliminate speech sounds. For example, if the word is bend and they write bed, it suggests they do not have the phonological skills necessary to be successful without structured literacy intervention. Make sure to pay attention to this on writing assignments, not just spelling tests. Many dyslexic children can fool their teachers and parents because they have good visual memory skills so they can memorize spelling words. 

As children move into intermediate grades 4th and then into high school, many of these problems will persist and there will be additional signs like: 

  • Slow , inaccurate, and laborious reading – at this point your child is working so hard to decode words that reading fluency is seriously affected. 
  • Weak reading comprehension when compared to listening and oral comprehension 
  • Poor spelling skills and handwriting in written assignments 
  • Slow at working on literacy skills – homework will often take hours and lead to frustration 
  • Poor comprehension and vocabulary due to lack of access to grade level text
  • Needs intensive intervention to increase reading and spelling skills 

It is important to note that in many cases these reading, writing, and language issues exist despite being part of a strong instruction program or being read to by a parent. I have often heard “but my son is in a good school” or “I read to her every night.” Dyslexia and other reading difficulties develop without regard to exposure to literacy. 

If you have concerns about your child, start getting them the help and support they need to be successful. You are their number one fan and the person they need in their corner. 

Contact us today if you have questions  or need more information.

Becky Welsch
RW&C, LLC
www.rwc4reading.com



Becky Welsch has a Master’s degree in K-8 Education. She is certified to teach in the state of Arizona and has special endorsements in the areas of English Language Learners and Reading.
Becky has worked with struggling readers in the primary as well as secondary grades. Her experience also includes intensive reading intervention both in person as well as with online teletherapy. 

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With the beginning of the school year come excitement, assessments, and paperwork. While you are meeting your new students and their families, you are also planning for how to maximize their success this year. You are thinking about staff meetings, lesson plans, small groups, and countless other issues. 

One important factor to keep in mind is to make sure you are watching your students for potential reading, writing, and spelling issues. As their teacher, you are often their first line of defense against academic issues and their most important advocate. 

This time of year is extremely busy and you are getting to know your students. It is incredibly important to keep your eyes open for potential reading difficulties. The sooner you can spot them, the sooner you can begin to recommend reading intervention that works. 

There are a few telltale signs in a classroom that a student is struggling. They may: 

  • Avoid participation in reading exercise
  • Read the same word differently across a passage
  • Read the beginning of a word correctly but guess at the rest of the word
  • Work 2-3 times longer (harder) to complete an assignment
  • Struggle to remember the content of the reading material because, for that student, the process of reading is so laborious

Most importantly, a student with a reading challenge may show limited growth compared to their peers in reading, spelling, or writing DESPITE participating in an outstanding academic program. 

Chances are, you have a student in your class who fits this profile. They are struggling despite your best teaching and attempts to help them. They need intervention with a Structured Literacy program. Often, this means that they need outside help. 

We all want what is best for our students. If you notice them struggling, do not wait until conferences or after winter break to bring it up to their parents. Let them know as soon as you see issues and discuss the external resources available to help their child. 

Our online program is proven and effective with struggling students. Our trained clinicians deliver one on one tutoring via an online platform. Together, we can help your students succeed. 

Becky Welsch
RW&C, LLC
www.rwc4reading.com



Becky Welsch has a Master’s degree in K-8 Education. She is certified to teach in the state of Arizona and has special endorsements in the areas of English Language Learners and Reading.
Becky has worked with struggling readers in the primary as well as secondary grades. Her experience also includes intensive reading intervention both in person as well as with online teletherapy. 

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Up until about ten years ago, there was a prevailing theory in reading instruction that some children simply took longer to mature. If they were having reading difficulties, time would somehow fix them, and they would eventually catch up. In short, these children were seen as being “late bloomers.” Teachers would tell parents to wait and see and early intervention for reading was delayed under the assumption that these students simply needed more time to catch up to their peers. 

This was known as the developmental lag theory and was the prevailing ideology for nearly 30 years. It was also the justification for waiting to intervene in reading until the difficulties were quite severe. However, as our understanding of reading instruction has grown, this theory has been disproven by the evidence. 

New research indicates that early intervention with an appropriate Structured Literacy program is crucial to closing the reading gap. This new theory, known as skill deficit, indicates that waiting does not work and that children will not pick up literacy skills without explicit instruction. The old approach of wait and see is actively harmful to struggling readers as it causes them to fall further behind instead of addressing their reading issues. 

The research behind skill deficit theory is substantial and indicates that students who struggle with reading need early intervention as it makes their reading success significantly more likely. In fact, 90% of students who struggle with reading difficulties will achieve grade level reading outcomes if they receive reading intervention by the first grade. However, if intervention is delayed to age 9 or later, 75% of these students will continue to struggle throughout their school career. Furthermore, if students get reading intervention in the fourth grade as compared to the end of kindergarten, it will take them nearly four times longer to make the same amount of skill gains. 

So, what does this mean for parents and teachers? Well, quite simply put, it means that late bloomers are not going to bloom without some help. Children who struggle with early literacy skills have the best chance of catching up if they are given appropriate Structured Literacy intervention. The earlier they can start, the better their outcomes. 

Students who do not receive appropriate early reading intervention can seem to be stuck in a sort of downward spiral, but it does not have to be this way. While it is clear that we cannot “wait and see” to improve reading, there are methods of intervention that are supported by the most recent reading research. 

If your child struggles with reading, it is critical that they get the help they need. However, not all reading intervention is created equal and if you want to close the gap, you need to make sure their intervention is appropriate. Teaching something the same way repeatedly will not cause them to magically “get it.”

At risk readers need explicit, systematic instruction. They need an OG based program like our online tutoring program that emphasizes phonological awareness skills like rhyming, phoneme segmentation, blending, and substitution. They need explicit and systematic phonics instruction as well as direct instruction in vocabulary and word meanings. A quality program will also include direct and explicit instruction in morphemes and include significant practice time. A fluency component will also need to be directly taught so that children learn to read quickly and accurately. Comprehension also needs to be included and specific. 

With appropriate and early intervention, children who struggle with reading can and do catch up to their grade level peers. As a parent, we want our children to experience success and an effective reading program is one of the best ways we can ensure they learn to read.

After reading this, if you have an older child, you may feel disheartened. Don’t. While early intervention is more effective, you can still intervene with older students. The process may be slower, and it may require a more intensive schedule, but it is possible. 

If you are looking for an effective program for your child, regardless of their age, our online tutoring may be the right fit. Our trained reading clinicians work with your child one-on-one using research-based techniques. With the right help, your child can succeed. 

Becky Welsch
RW&C, LLC
www.rwc4reading.com



Becky Welsch has a Master’s degree in K-8 Education. She is certified to teach in the state of Arizona and has special endorsements in the areas of English Language Learners and Reading.
Becky has worked with struggling readers in the primary as well as secondary grades. Her experience also includes intensive reading intervention both in person as well as with online teletherapy. 

Sources:

https://www.aft.org/periodical/american-educator/fall-2004/avoiding-devastating-downward-spiral

https://www.greatschools.org/gk/articles/reading-disorder-or-developmental-lag/

https://www.readingrockets.org/article/waiting-rarely-works-late-bloomers-usually-just-wilt

Resources for Choosing an Intervention Program: 

https://rwc4reading.com/wp-content/presentations/Online%20Reading%20Program%20Evaluation%20Checklist.pdf

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Often, in parent-teacher conferences or in a note sent home from school, parents learn the level that their child is reading at. Depending on the school you might be told that your child is “reading at level G,” or is “at a Lexile 130,” or “is below/on/above grade level,” or is “reading at a 2.3.” While this measure does provide some insight into where your child is performing with reading, it is far from the most important reading indication. In some cases, it can mask potential reading difficulties or leave you feeling confused about what to do next.

In order to truly understand your child’s reading performance, you need more information. However, if you aren’t a reading specialist, it can be difficult to do know what you need to know. Whether your child is at grade level, above grade level, on grade level, reading at level x,y,z or anything in between, you need to know how they perform at certain reading skills. This information is critical in assessing your child’s performance and determining a reading action plan. It is especially crucial if they are functioning below grade level in reading.

Here are a few areas that you can ask your child’s teacher about and some specific questions to get more information on your child’s reading performance.

Letter naming and sound recognition: this indicates your child’s ability to name letters and also associate the sound of the letter with the symbol. While they are separate skills, they are often lumped together on many assessments. By about mid-kindergarten (if not sooner) your child should know all letter names and all sounds, including all short vowel sounds and, depending on the state and school, it may also include long vowels. Also, important to note some students may have trouble with some consonant sounds (specifically sounds like <r> can come a bit later developmentally), as long as this articulation issue does not prevent them from reading and comprehending words with those sounds, it is unlikely to cause a reading issue.  

If this is a concern, ask your child’s teacher: What letters does my child know the names of? What about the sounds? What letter names is he missing? What sounds does she not know? Does he know both long and short vowel sounds?

If the answer to these questions indicated a gap in reading performance, Structured Literacy intervention can help close that gap before it becomes severe in the higher grades.

Phonological awareness: this is an absolutely critical reading skill and a predictor of future reading success. Most phonological skills should be mastered by kindergarten. See our previous blog  for a more detailed list of skills, but basically, this involves the ability to orally rhyme, identify sounds, segment and blend sounds, as well as add, delete, and substitute sounds in order to create new words.

To get more information on this subset of skills, ask your child’s teacher: Can she identify and produce rhyming words? Can he stretch and blend sounds? Can she change sounds in the beginning, middle, and ending of words?

This is an important foundational skill, and reading progress becomes very difficult if it is lacking. If your child struggles in this area beyond the middle of kindergarten, early intervention is crucial to reading success.

Phonics: this is a very broad topic and has to do with associating the phoneme or sound of a spelling pattern with its grapheme or written form. Each grade level has a different set of spelling pattern expectations, and it is important that your child demonstrates mastery of grade-level-appropriate phonics.

Even strong readers can have difficulty in this area. Often, students are able to memorize words and can trick educators into thinking they have phonics patterns mastered. However, if these are not truly internalized their reading can begin to “fall apart” as texts get more complicated.

To determine if your child is mastering appropriate phonics skills, ask the teacher: Can he read grade-level appropriate spelling patterns in and out of text? Can she spell words with appropriate spelling patterns? Can he read unknown words or nonsense words with grade level appropriate spelling patterns?

The ability to read nonsense words is especially important in determining if your child has mastered phonics skills. In order to demonstrate mastery, she needs to be able to read nonsense words using decoding abilities. If your child is able to read real words but not nonsense words, it is an indication of weak phonics skills. It is important to address and remediate this before it becomes a major roadblock in reading development.

Fluency: this refers to your child’s ability to read with appropriate speed and expression. Your child should be reading with a speed that enables him to understand what he is reading and expression appropriate to what is happening. Often, poor fluency can lead to poor comprehension and impede reading development in later grades.

To learn more about your child’s fluency, ask the teacher: How many words per minute does she read? What is the grade level goal for fluency? Does he read with appropriate expression? Are there any times when poor fluency seems to affect his comprehension? Is she trying to read too fast and failing to understand what she is reading?

The answers to these questions can give you important insight into your child’s reading, wherever it may fall on the grade level spectrum.

Comprehension: this is the ability to understand what is being read and use the information to answer questions, make inferences, draw conclusions, and make predictions. While it is included in most assessments that determine reading level, it is such an important element of reading development that it should be examined in more detail with your child’s teacher. Often, even strong readers can and do struggle with higher level reading comprehension.

To figure out how well your child comprehends a text, ask the teacher: Can he answer questions with explicit answers in the text? Can he answer higher level thinking questions and make inferences? Is she able to make and confirm predictions during reading? If so, how often can she do these things? What areas does he struggle with? What are his strengths?

In addition to these five areas, there are many more areas you can delve into. Vocabulary and writing also play an important role in literacy development as do sight word reading ability, oral retelling, and many other areas. It is impossible to create an exhaustive list, but hopefully the above will give you somewhere to start and some ways to talk about reading beyond a grade level.

Even if your child is at grade level, there may still be areas that they struggle with. It is important to know this and ensure that your child masters all reading skills.

If your child struggles with reading, getting effective intervention is key to their reading success. Even if you are told to “wait and see” by the school, keep in mind that this does not work. If your child is young, you may be told that children develop at different stages. This is not supported by research. Research indicates that early intervention does close the gap. Structured Literacy programs like our online tutoring program are research proven to increase reading skills. We work with your child and determine the exact areas of reading to focus on which increases their success.

Contact us for more information or if you have any questions about your child’s reading abilities.  

 
 Becky Welsch
 RW&C, LLC
 www.rwc4reading.com
 
 
 
 Becky Welsch has a Master’s degree in K-8 Education. She is certified to teach in the state of Arizona and has special endorsements in the areas of English Language Learners and Reading.
 
 Becky has worked with struggling readers in the primary as well as secondary grades. Her experience also includes intensive reading intervention both in person as well as with online teletherapy. 

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reading tutoringIf you were asked to name a pivotal year in school, one that influenced future academic success for years, what would you say? Junior high, senior year of high school, the first year of college? While these are all important landmarks in an individual’s education, I would argue one of the most critical years is third grade.

 

Yep, you heard that right, third grade. The third grade represents a major shift in what students learn and how they are taught, especially when it comes to reading. The focus shifts from learning to read – decoding text and sight words – to reading to learn. Instead of simple sentences and predictable spelling patterns, students are now being asked to read about a topic and learn from a text.

 

There is also a shift from reading primarily fiction text to reading mostly nonfiction. Students are asked to read, absorb, and use information. This is a pivot point for many readers, especially those who struggle. If children are not fluent readers by the time they enter third grade, they are likely to fall behind, and the gap will continue to grow if appropriate reading intervention is not implemented. This has major effects on a child’s academic future. A study conducted in 2011 by Donald J. Hernandez and released by the Annie E. Casey Foundation found that students who lacked proficiency in third-grade reading were four times as likely as their on grade level peers to drop out of high school.

 

Research shows that students with a range of reading disabilities who receive appropriate intervention focused on accuracy and fluency by the end of 2nd – 3rd grade will usually catch up (Torgesen et al., 2003). Unfortunately, students who get appropriate intervention after 3rd grade do not catch up in terms of reading fluency. This group of students may get close to their peers in accuracy; however, fluency, while it improves over time, remains behind peers and presents a significant reading impediment.

 

If your child is behind in reading as they approach or enter third grade, it is imperative that they get the reading intervention they need. Here are a few ways that you can help support your child with reading at home.

 

  1. Focus on reading a variety of texts. Even if your child hasn’t even started school yet, make sure that you are reading both fiction and non-fiction to them. Read functional texts as well, like the back of the cereal box, graphs, signs, and directions. Point out different text types and what their purpose is (to inform, to entertain, to teach how to do something).
  2. Work on phonological awareness skills. From preschool, children need to be working on manipulating the sounds in words and syllables. Ask your child to stretch out the sounds in words, blend them together, break words into syllables and generate rhyming words. For a more complete list of ways to practice phonological awareness skills, check out our blog dedicated to the subject.
  3. Make sure your child is still getting explicit phonics instruction. Children who struggle with reading need direct and explicit instruction in letter sounds. Check out our blog for some ideas to practice phonics skills. If your child shows significant deficits in phonics, you may want to think about signing them up for our online reading tutoring program.
  4. Have your child read out loud. Parents can often feel a bit blindsided because they think their child is doing fine. Starting in about third grade, we tend to stop asking students to read out loud. This makes it difficult to know if your child is struggling. You can make reading out loud fun and even trick your child into thinking it is a game. One activity to encourage reading out loud is to trade off. You start reading a text and point to your child when you want them to take over. Go back and forth until you finish the text. You can also have your child record themselves reading a story and play it back so they can hear how they sounded. Some children love to read to their pet. Particularly older children, as they are not self-conscious while reading to their furry friend. This may be the only time an older child will willingly read aloud. Encourage them to use appropriate expression and even voices for different characters. Also, like with other texts, make sure that you are reading a variety of fiction and non-fiction text.
  5. Ask your child about what they are reading. If your child is reading a fiction text, a few good go-to questions are: Who are the characters? What is the problem in the story? What is the solution? Would you have done anything differently? Why do you think he/she/they did that? How is the character feeling right now? Make sure to always ask for justification from the text. For example, if your child says a character is sad, make them prove it using examples from the story. If your child is reading a non-fiction text you can ask things like: What is the author’s purpose? What is the text mostly about? How do you know? What type of text is this? Why did the author write the text? Is there anything you would like to know more about?
  6. Encourage your child to monitor their own comprehension. Often, children who struggle don’t know when they don’t understand what they are reading. Encourage your child to identify when they are having difficulty and go back and reread. You can also have them take notes and ask questions as they read. Sticky notes or a reader’s notebook are a great way to get kids excited about this task.

 

reading interventionWhile these are all great ways to help your child who struggles to read, the best and most important thing you can do as a parent is getting your child the reading intervention they need. For children with reading difficulties, our online reading tutoring provides a Structured Literacy approach that has been proven time and time again to be effective.

 

Our reading clinicians are skilled at identifying areas for growth, and our program is tailored to fit your child. Plus, since it is all online there are no commutes or time wasted sitting in a waiting room. We also provide you will tools and skills to help your child at home.

 

If you suspect your child has trouble with reading, don’t wait for them to get further behind. Contact us today to get them the help they need.

 

Becky Welsch
RW&C, LLC
www.rwc4reading.com

 

Becky Welsch has a Master’s degree in K-8 Education. She is certified to teach in the state of Arizona and has special endorsements in the areas of English Language Learners and Reading. Becky has worked with struggling readers in the primary as well as secondary grades. Her experience also includes intensive reading intervention both in person as well as with online teletherapy. Becky has experience with early literacy skills like phonics and phonemic awareness development. She has used several structured literacy programs including Language! and Spalding phonics. She is also trained to administer DIBELS tests and has worked with the DIBELS Next reading remediation program.