Beyond Phonics - Three things that can make a difference for your child in becoming a confident, independent reader.
Have you ever watched your child struggle to read a page or even just a word and wondered, “Why is this so hard for them?” and “Will it ever get easier?”
You know how important reading is. It affects school, future opportunities, and everyday independence. You want your child to be able to pick up a book and read it independently—you want them to know the joy of reading for pleasure.
To be able to learn new ideas and to travel through time and space to places they may never visit in real life through books.
Becoming a capable, confident reader can make school easier and less stressful. It can build your child's self-confidence and reduce anxiety. And as they grow, stronger reading skills can open the door to more choices in college, work, and everyday life.
But you have been working so hard on reading and it seems that progress is so slow, and maybe most importantly - your child does not enjoy it.
Read on for a few strategies that may make a difference for you.
Strategy #1: Don’t get stuck on phonemic awareness and phonics. Start doing word study right away.
No matter how old your child is, we need to make sure they understand the letters and the sounds those letters can represent.
But this does not mean you have to wait until they are really good at this part before they can learn words and begin reading things that are much more interesting to them.
Some children have been working on phonemic awareness and phonics for years and still struggle to remember letter names and sounds automatically.
But doing more and more of the same thing isn't the answer.
We can and should start working with words right away.
Even a very young child can begin learning words while they are still developing their foundational sound knowledge. Instead of starting with the sounds and then sounding out words. We can begin with the word and then learn what all the letters are doing in that word.
Let’s use the word play as an example.
The reason we start with this word is not that it is easy and short but because children already know what play means. They have experience playing. They can relate the word to something meaningful in their own life. They like it. And you might wonder about the fact that it has a vowel team - which is not usually introduced yet but here is what we will do.
First I will just read the word to them. I do not expect that they will know how to read it and we talk about the meaning of the word.We can talk about what the word sounds like and which letters are representing those sounds. We can point out that the <ay> is representing the /ā/ sound in play.
Then we can build from there:
play
playing
played
Plays
Replay
player
playground
Your child will start to recognize the word play but we're not simply memorizing an isolated word. We're beginning to see how words are connected.
These words are all in the same family. This is not a rhyming word family, it is a meaningful word family. All the words are related because they have the same base word that has the same underlying meaning.
In the process we are learning about prefixes and suffixes. We're noticing compound words. We're seeing that a familiar base word can appear inside longer words ( because it is surrounded by prefixes and suffixes).
We are losing our fear of long words. In fact we finally come to understand that there is no such thing as a long word. Words that seem long are actually just base words surrounded by prefixes and suffixes.
The more prefixes and suffixes and the more bases the child learns the more words they can recognize and know the meaning of.
And, importantly, the learning becomes more interesting.
When something is meaningful and interesting, it is much more likely to stick.
Yes, letter names and sounds matter. They are an important foundation for reading.
But your child can work on those foundational skills while also learning words and reading meaningful material.
That's something I work on with students in my online reading tutoring. Rather than treating reading as a series of disconnected skills that must be mastered one at a time, I help students see how the pieces fit together inside real words.
We continue working on the sounds they need while giving them opportunities to experience success with words they can understand and relate to.
That combination can make reading feel much less like an endless cycle of “Try this letter again” and much more like discovering how written language works.
Strategy #2: Build Vocabulary by Studying Words and Their Families
Here's something that can make a tremendous difference for a struggling reader:
Knowing more words.
Imagine your child comes across a word they've never heard before.
Even if they can successfully sound it out, they may have no idea whether they've actually read it correctly.
Why?
Because if the word has no meaning to them, it is essentially a nonsense word.
That's why I spend a lot of time on word study with my students.
And I'm not talking about simply memorizing lists of words.
In my Zoom room, we study words as families. Not rhyming word families such as cat, hat, mat… Instead I am talking about words that are in the same family because they have the same base and the same meaning.
For example, we might study the act family.
act
action
acting
Acted
react
actually
actor
These words are connected by a common base and related meanings.
As we study them, we're learning much more than how to pronounce them.
We might talk about what each word means, how the meaning changes when suffixes are added to the word, and how the sounds and spelling may change when parts are added.
This is also incredibly helpful for spelling.
For example, a child who has only been taught to spell words by sounding them out might try to spell action as something like <acshun>.
But English spelling isn't based on sound alone.
In fact the meaning and historical roots of words are more important than the sounds when you are spelling.
Also think about the word "react". React has an <e> and an <a> next to each other but they are not a vowel team as <ea> usually is as in the word "team". This type of instruction provides lots of opportunity to study words and what the letters are doing in them within the context of the words.
Often when I introduce a new word, I will tell the student the word first instead of expecting that they will be able to sound it out and read it to me.
Then we can talk about what it means.If the word has different meanings we talk about all the different ways we can use that word.
Then we'll look at how it is spelled and what sounds the letters represent. We'll connect it to other words in the same family and look at what happens when prefixes or suffixes are added.
The child begins to see that words aren't random collections of letters. Neither are they random collections of sounds.
Words have history, meaning, patterns, and relationships. The letters sometimes change what they are doing based on what other letters are next to them or how many syllables are in the word.
And the more your child knows about words, the more information their brain has available when they encounter those words in reading.
Instead of having only one piece of information—“I know how to sound this out”—they might recognize the base word, understand the meaning, recognize a prefix or suffix, know related words, and recognize the word from previous experiences.
All of those connections make reading easier.
Having a larger vocabulary also supports reading fluency.
When a child already knows a word, they can recognize it much more easily while reading. But if they don't know the word, they may have to slow down and work through it—or they may guess and substitute a word they already know which will make it look like they can read fast but they won’t have good comprehension because they read the wrong word.
Building vocabulary gives your child more words that they can recognize and understand, including longer and more academic words they will encounter as they progress through school.
That's why word study is such an important part of my online reading tutoring.
We don't spend all our time sounding out words.
We study words.
We talk about what they mean, whether they have more than one meaning, which words they are related to, and what happens when prefixes and suffixes are added.
And I believe it's valuable to start this work even when a child is still working on basic letter-sound knowledge.
The two things can happen simultaneously.
Your child doesn't have to wait until they have mastered every letter and sound before they can begin developing a rich vocabulary.
Strategy #3: Let Fluency mean Accurate, Meaningful Reading—Not Just Reading Faster
Another roadblock for many struggling readers is fluency.
Many schools test children regularly on reading speed and the child has the idea planted in their minds that the important thing is for them to read faster.
They often read as fast as they can, which causes them to skip words or say the wrong word and to guess at words they are not sure of automatically.
Is reading faster really the most important goal?
I believe accuracy and comprehension are much more important than speed.
I almost never time my students while they read. If I do I often try not to let the student know I am timing.
Why?
Because some children, particularly children with dyslexia, may need more time to process language. If a child believes that the goal is to read as quickly as possible, they may start guessing at words rather than slowing down and figuring out a word they don't recognize.
That can create a frustrating cycle.
They read too quickly → they misread words → they don't understand the sentence → reading becomes even more stressful.
Instead of trying get students to read faster I often teach students to slow down.
We work on:
pausing at commas
stopping at periods
using natural phrasing
paying attention to sentence structure
asking themselves after each sentence whether they understood what they just read
slowing down when they encounter an unfamiliar word
….
The goal is to help your child read in a way that supports understanding.
One student who came to work with me in seventh grade could read fairly well but she wasn't reading fluently. Her lack of fluency was frustrating her and was also creating problems with comprehension.
We worked on slowing her reading down. She learned to pause at commas, stop at periods, and think about whether she understood what she had just read.
I also had her listen to a professional storyteller reading a story.
I pointed out something important: He wasn't simply trying to read as fast as possible.
Instead, he was reading in a way that was interesting. He paused. He used phrasing. He emphasized certain words. He allowed the meaning of the story to come through. He was actually reading fairly slowly.
We also talked about something that can be very reassuring for struggling readers:
Even excellent readers don't know every word.
If I picked up a medical journal, a legal document, or even a novel I would without a doubt find unfamiliar vocabulary. Even though I am a good reader I might need to stop, look up a word, listen to its pronunciation, and learn what it means.
That's not failure.
That's reading. No matter how old I get or how good at reading I get this will still happen. All of my life I will still be able to learn new words because there is about a million words in the English language no one knows all of them.
So don’t be embarrassed when you need to slow down to figure out a word or look up a word in the dictionary.
We also worked on sentence structure and grammar. Sentences are generally made up of phrases, and the words within those phrases need to be read as though they belong together otherwise the meaning can get lost.
After about six months of working together, this student had much more confidence in her reading ability and in her ability to understand what she read.
That is the kind of progress I want for my students.
Not simply “You read 10 more words per minute.”
But:
“I can read this. I can understand this. I know what to do when I come across something I don't know.”
In my online tutoring sessions, I help students develop these habits in a supportive environment. We work on accuracy, phrasing, comprehension, and confidence together rather than making speed the entire goal.
When those things are in place the speed usually follows without focusing on speed. If it does not you can work on speed then.
You Might Be Wondering: What If My Child Has Already Worked With an Orton-Gillingham Tutor and Is Still Struggling?
If your child has already spent significant time working with an Orton-Gillingham tutor and is still struggling to read, you may be wondering, “What else can we try?”
First, I want you to know that continuing to struggle does not mean that your child can't learn to read. It may simply mean that they need a different way of approaching some of the challenges they are facing.
I am trained in Orton-Gillingham-based programs as a Certified Academic Language Therapist (CALT), and I have continued to build my understanding and teaching practice beyond what I learned while earning my master's degree in literacy.
I still use many Orton-Gillingham principles in my teaching because they provide valuable tools for helping students understand how written language works. Orton-Gillingham is the most studied approach and has a very good track record. But over the years, I have expanded the way I approach reading instruction.
One of the approaches I now use is Structured Word Inquiry. This is what I have been describing to you when I talk about word study.
Structured Word Inquiry gives us another way to explore words. Rather than focusing primarily on sounding words out, we can investigate how words are built, what they mean, how they are related to other words, and why they are spelled the way they are.
This can be especially helpful for students who have spent years working on phonics but are still struggling to make progress.
It also gives us an opportunity to build vocabulary at the same time we're studying how words work. As I described above, your child isn't just learning how to read a word—they are learning about its meaning, its base, its related words, and how prefixes and suffixes can change or extend that meaning and change the sounds the letters are making.
And for many students, this kind of word investigation is simply more interesting.
Instead of repeatedly practicing the same isolated skills, they get to become curious about words and discover the connections between them.
So if your child has already worked with an Orton-Gillingham tutor and is still struggling, that doesn't mean you've reached the end of the road.
It may be time to build on what your child already knows and look at words from another perspective.
Sometimes progress comes not from starting over, but from adding another way of understanding how words work.
Your Child Can Become a Confident, Independent Reader
If your child struggles with reading, you may sometimes wonder whether things will ever become easier.
I want you to know that there are ways to approach reading instruction that go beyond simply doing more worksheets or spending more time memorizing letter flashcards.
Three important strategies are:
Continue building letter-sound knowledge while moving into meaningful and interesting word study. Don't let your child become stuck working on phonics. While phonics is important you don’t have to remain there until they can do it perfectly.
Build vocabulary through word study. Help your child understand how words are connected through meaning, base words, prefixes, and suffixes.
Focus on accurate, meaningful reading rather than making speed the primary goal. Help your child slow down, use good phrasing, and pay attention to whether they understand what they're reading.The goal isn't simply to get your child through the next reading assignment.
The goal is to help your child become a reader who can approach a new word, a new book, or a challenging piece of text with confidence and to actually enjoy learning through reading.
Imagine your child being able to sit down with a book and know what to do when they encounter something difficult.
Imagine school becoming less stressful because reading no longer feels like an impossible task.
Imagine your child feeling proud instead of embarrassed when they are asked to read.
Imagine your child volunteering to read things on their own and reading books for pleasure.
And imagine the opportunities that can become available when reading is no longer standing in their way.
Your child deserves the chance to discover that they can become a capable, confident reader.
Do you want help for your child's reading journey?
If your child is struggling to become a confident reader, you don't have to figure everything out on your own.
I provide online reading tutoring for children who struggle with reading, including children with dyslexia. In our sessions, we can work on the foundational skills your child needs while also helping them develop vocabulary, comprehension, fluency, and confidence.
Sign up for a free 20 minute consultation where we can discuss your situation and decided if Reading tutoring with me would be a good fit for your child.
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