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The school year is almost half way over and you are watching your child continue to struggle with reading. Teachers tell you that he/she will catch up eventually. Everyone tells you to read aloud to your child and they will learn to love to read. You are doing everything you are told to do, but you know the struggle is real and you see no improvement. You see the tears, frustration, and damage to self-esteem and realize that you need to take further steps. What type of reading instruction works best for struggling readers and how do you access such instruction?

According to the National Reading Panel there are 5 critical components of evidence-based (has a record of success) instruction for people with dyslexia.

1. Phonemic awareness instruction: Phonemic awareness is the ability to recognize that words are made up of individual sounds. This type of instruction teaches students to blend…

Most teachers and parents delay evaluating students for dyslexia, or other learning disabilities, because they think children will outgrow whatever reading and spelling difficulties they have. This is not true. The Connecticut Longitudinal Study demonstrated that 3 out of 4 students who struggle with reading and spelling in elementary school, continue to struggle as they get older. By high school, these students’ difficulties can no longer be overlooked. Without early identification and early intervention, these students will continue to struggle into adulthood.

Early intervention programs should be researched based and contain the following:

• Systematic, explicit, and intensive instruction in phoneme awareness-identifying and manipulation the sounds in our spoken language.
• Systematic, explicit, and intensive instruction in phonics- how letters and groups of letters make sounds in our spoken language.
• Systematic, explicit, and intensive instruction in decoding, spelling, sight words, vocabulary words, and reading comprehension strategies.

It is crucial that any early…