How Can I Help My Child Become a Better Reader?

Have you ever watched your child read and wondered what is happening when they get stuck on a word? Maybe your child can read some words easily but struggles with others. Maybe reading has become frustrating, and you're trying to figure out how to help. Maybe your child is doing well with reading, and you simply want to understand more so you can continue helping them grow. 

How much do we really know about how reading works? What is happening in the brain when your child reads a word? What skills do children need to become strong readers? How do you know what your child should be learning at their grade level? What should good reading instruction look like? What happens when your child needs more support?

September is National Literacy Month, and we're excited to celebrate by spending the month learning about reading and literacy together! That's why we created 30 Days of Literacy, a month-long campaign designed to help families better understand how reading works and how they can support their children as they learn and grow as readers.

For 30 days, we're inviting families to join us as we learn about reading from the brain to the classroom. We'll start learning about the brain and work our way through the skills children need for reading, the literacy standards, what good reading instruction should look like, and how children can be supported when reading is still hard.

Along the way, we'll have videos, articles, activities, free resources, prerecorded reviews, and live sessions to help you not only learn the information but understand what it means for your child. Bring your questions. Bring what you already know about your child and come learn with us. Ready? Let's go!

Spark a mind and change a life!

Did you know your child started learning about language before they were even born?   

Yep! While babies are still in the womb, their little brains are already listening and learning. They begin picking up on the pitch, sounds, and rhythm of the language they hear—the way voices go up and down, how the language sounds, and even the natural beat of the words being spoken.

Here’s the really cool part. By the time babies are born, they already recognize their mother’s voice, and the language they heard while in the womb sounds familiar to them.

Just think about that for a minute. Before your child ever said “mama,” “dada,” or any other word, their brain had already started learning about language. Pretty amazing, right?

Well, if the brain is already doing that much work before a child is even born, just imagine what starts happening when it’s time to learn how to read, write, and spell.

Day 2 — How the Brain Reads, Writes, and Spells

Tomorrow, we’re going to start finding out! We’ll meet the Four-Part Processor and take our first look at what’s happening inside your child’s brain when they read, write, and spell.

Trust us—you’re going to want to see what that brain is up to!  

Have you ever wondered what is happening inside your learner's brain when they read a word? We see a learner looking at words on a page, but there is a whole lot happening inside the brain that we can't see!

Today, we're going inside the reading brain and introducing you to something called the Four-Part Processor. It helps us understand four different parts of the brain that work together when we read, write, and spell. You'll meet the Phonological Processor, Orthographic Processor, Meaning Processor, and Context Processor. Over the next several days, we're going to slow down and take a closer look at each one so you can understand what it does and why it matters.

Why should families know this? When a learner is having difficulty with reading, writing, or spelling, knowing how the brain works can help us begin asking better questions. Rather than only wondering, “Why is reading so hard?”, we can begin thinking about questions like, “Which part of my learner's brain may need to be strengthened to help them become a stronger reader?” That's a very different way of looking at reading difficulties.

Are you ready? Let's dive in and have fun exploring the brain!

Have you ever wondered why your learner can sing the ABCs from beginning to end but still have trouble recognizing some of those same letters when they see them by themselves? 

Maybe they know a b one minute, but the next time they see it, they call it a d. Maybe there are words they recognize right away, while other words make them stop, look closely, and really think about what they're seeing. There's a lot happening in the brain when we look at letters and words, and today we're going to help you understand a little more about that work. Meet the Orthographic Processor.

The Orthographic Processor helps us recognize, remember, and work with the letters and words we see in print. As learners are learning to read, their brains are learning what letters look like, how letters are different from one another, which letters and patterns they have seen before, and which words are becoming familiar.

As learners get better at recognizing and remembering what they see in print, their brains can begin recognizing familiar letters and words more quickly and with less effort.

Today, we're going to help you experience some of that for yourself. Then we'll help you think about what it might look like when your own learner is reading.