Have Your Child's Reading Skills Become Rusty Over the Summer?

Would your child benefit from additional reading instruction? Have their skills become rusty over the summer?

Children from homes where they value literacy, cherish books and children are engaged in literacy related activiites on a regular basis do not experience the same "summer-slide" phenomenon as children from homes where do they not have these advantages. They may actually have a gain in reading achievement levels over the summer!

However, children who have experienced challenges in reading, or are behind often have a weakness in the phonological system that causes sound-related knowledge to be more susceptable to decay. If that is the case, they are more susceptable to losing some of the ground they gained during the previous school year.  

We all learn differently. Students with reading difficulties usually have a myriad of strengths. Think of Richard Branson and Stephen Spielberg. Both men are incredible individuals whose vision, insights and talents have impacted the world. Yet, they both have had challenges reading. It has nothing to do with their intelligence or their persistence. They have demonstrated oodles, of both. 

Good reading intervention should capitalize on strengths to address weaknesses. High reasoning skills, visual skills, and humour are three such strengths we use at The Reading Network, to help children crack the code and become proficient readers.

How do you know if you child might be having reading difficulties? Sometimes it is hard to tell when a child is so "normal" and demonstrates so many other talents and skills.

Here are some signs that your child may be having some reading difficulties:

Early school age:

• difficulty learning the names of letters and the sounds they make (by the end of kindergarten children should know the names and sounds of all 26 letters of the alphabet, plus some double-letter sounds)
• not progressing through the expected levels in leveled book systems in reading
• not remembering the sight words for their grade level
• when speaking, may fill in with words like “stuff” and “thing” when they can’t recall the names of items
• not reading at the end of Grade 1
• difficulty tying shoes

Later school age:

• reading below grade level
• not decoding, over-relying on context clues
• inserting words that have similar meanings, but looking very different (i.e. “car” for “automobile”)
• missing small words in the text (e.g. the)
• reading is slow and sounds laborious... it sounds choppy, stilted, and has poor rhythm
• poor spelling
• poor handwriting

Reading difficulties can have a profoundly negative impact on developing self-esteem, on success in school and the attainment of future academic and career goals. 

The Reading Network provides one-to-one reading instruction, online. 

Our instructional program:

• direct and systematic teaching of letters and their corresponding sounds
• a program designed to enhance reading fluency and use of reading strategies
• training in word recognition and decoding skills
• use of the computer
• support for parents who want to know how to help their child at home, with resources
• methods that work with student strengths while addressing their weaknesses

The Reading Network presently has a special offer on our Introductory Package and Our Monthly Package, for one-to-one reading instruction online. Our services are convenient for busy families. Our services are delivered via live webconferencing software. Offer expires Sunday, August 17th, at 11:59 PM.

You can learn more about The Reading Network by watching this video, or exploring our online learning environment. You can also schedule a free online demo, to see if The Reading Network services are right for your child.   If you would like more information, please call us today at 855-534-1345!