Summer is a great time to take an honest look at your child’s reading progress in school and determine if an intervention is needed before the new school year begins. Here’s the last of the Reading Essentials Series…..

As your child learns to read, you may have concerns about whether or not he or she is progressing at a normal rate. After all, you’ve been comparing developmental notes with other parents since your child was rolling over and beginning to crawl, right?

Although every child is different, if your child follows an “average” developmental path, there are a few milestones of reading progression that you can expect to observe in the early grade school years. Remember, though, every child’s path is unique! Milestones are just a general marker of where a child will most likely demonstrate particular skills and abilities.

Kindergarten:
Children will be learning to read independently. They will most likely know all their letters and most letter-sounds, be able to segment, blend, and manipulate phonemes, and will be identifying some sight words. Some children will be reading text at the end of this first year of school.

First and Second Grade:
Independent reading skills progress. Children engage in more sight and whole word identification, and vocabulary increases. Children are able to sound out longer words, or guess meanings from context if words are phonetically irregular. Writing ability expands to complete sentences, including some punctuation.

Third Grade:
Third grade is traditionally the time when children make the switch from “learning to read” to “reading to learn.” Most reading fundamentals are in place at this point, so that children can begin reading more challenging material.

Note! Even when your child reaches an independent reading level, you should maintain your support of his or her continuing development. Keep reading to or with your child, retaining a reading tradition that is emotionally significant for both you and your child. Continue to express and model the importance of reading in your home environment, demonstrate an interest in your child’s homework, and ensure that he or she has the tools to complete assignments with full understanding and a sense of accomplishment. Don’t make the mistake of thinking your child is “done” with learning to read once he or she has the basics down!

4^th Grade and 5^th Grade
In fourth and fifth grade, children are reading more challenging texts with fluency. They can identify different parts of a word such as the root word, prefix, and suffix, and use this information to decode the meanings of unfamiliar words. They will also learn to re-read when necessary to support their comprehension of text.

6^th Grade
By 6^th grade, students are expected to have mastered the fundamentals of reading. Teachers spend less time with reading instruction, and students are responsible for gleaning information from reading materials independently. Students are also able to summarize texts, identify the main idea, and locate textual evidence to support an idea or theory about a text.

You can learn more about grade-level expectations for reading by visiting the Common Core State Standards website.

If you feel that your child is falling behind grade-level reading expectations, it’s important to address these concerns sooner rather than later. Early intervention (with a program like Red Apple Reading perhaps!) is key to reversing reading difficulties and ensuring that your child is fully equipped to excel in reading, as well as other subjects which require reading fluency and comprehension (which is all of them!). And summer is a great time to begin these interventions.

My child is struggling with reading skills and you want me to check his ears? Many parents know that vision is important, but hearing is just as essential to a child’s developing reading skills. A child can appear to hear just fine and still have a specific processing skill weakness that will affect his ability to decode words when reading.

Clearly hearing and identifying the differences among spoken sounds is a key component in a child’s reading development. Young readers need to have an understanding of the differences among sounds, for example hearing /a/ and /i/ as distinct vowel sounds, both in isolation and within words.

Children who suffer from frequent ear infections or hearing loss might have a particularly difficult time in identifying different sounds in speech. Some children may also have difficulties with auditory processing, and may not be able to effectively connect the sounds and words they hear with meaning. In addition, they may have difficulty listening to and remembering information that is given orally.

Be sure to check with your doctor if you notice any of these behaviors in your child to help avoid academic problems. Children with hearing challenges will most likely require extra practice with language sounds, but all children can benefit from targeted practice.

The more you can help your child strengthen his or her auditory skills, the stronger her auditory skill base will be when reading. Auditory skills can be fostered in your child when you:

• Teach and repeat songs, poems, stories and rhymes
• Clearly pronounce and differentiate letter-sounds
• Incorporate new words into your conversations
• Introduce your child to interactive activities that have a sound component either on your computer (like Red Apple Reading), or through other audio media

There are a great many factors that affect a child’s ability to develop reading skills proficiently – this is just one more facet to keep in mind as you and your child venture into the wonderful world of reading.

Have any related stories to share? Our readers would love your input!