4 Ways to Help Children Struggling with Reading

Reading has numerous benefits for children. This ranges from building strong literacy skills for academic purposes to health benefits and psychological benefits. No one should be discouraged from reading and those who can’t read should be helped as much as possible to tackle this challenge. Below are 4 ways to help children struggling with reading brace up.

Employ a multi-sensory teaching method

To help children struggling with reading, you should employ the multi-sensory teaching method. This method will enable you to figure out the strength and weakness of the children you are dealing with. Rather than teach them vaguely, engage in activities that will enable the student to learn in their unique ways.

Find out a child’s unique challenge in reading

Every child undergoing reading difficulty has an area where the challenge springs up from. This could be related to phonetic issues such as linking letters to sounds and vice versa. Finding out the root cause of the reading challenge will pave a way to finding a solution. According to a recent study carried out by Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, using students’ exclusive needs to tackle reading challenges can help resolve the challenge. Especially, when there are several other students in the class.

Employ a system of scaffolds

When children are treated oddly due to their reading challenge, they tend to withdraw themselves. However, making available educational scaffolding techniques (Scaffolding means demonstrating how to solve a problem, and then allow a child to repeat same while also providing him or her adequate support when needed) which would provide an opportunity for students and children alike to ask questions freely will yield success. Scaffolding according to Northern Illinois University’s faculty of Development and Instructional Design enables students to participate effectively in the learning process as well as explore knowledge. The scaffolding system helps to provide a great deal of support for children, as well as encourage them to do better, rather than give up.

Motivate and encourage each success with reward  

Students who have reading difficulties often feel odd and disengaged when they are with their peers. The more they struggle with reading, the more their interest in reading diminishes. Hence it is important to encourage such students with positive appraisals and rewards. It could be simple rewards such as gifting such a child or student a box of chocolate for every attained success. This way, a student or a child experiencing reading difficulty can develop sudden willingness to succeed even more than ever.

Reading is imperative for every major life activity and as such children with reading difficulties need to be helped out. Parents, guardians and teachers looking to find ways to help out students and children experiencing reading difficulty can employ these 4 ways to help children struggling with reading.

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