Secret to Reading

Learning to read is very complex for about 20% of young children.  Some children have a hard time unlocking the reading ‘code’ because they have weak phonological processing.  The secret for learning to read is to make sure your child has strong phonological processing.  There are three main areas of phonological processing: Phonological Awareness, Phonological Memory, and Rapid Naming.  If any one of these three areas does not work efficiently your child will have reading problems.

If your son or daughter struggles to learn to read, the one thing to know is don’t wait to get help.  I have a test that assesses the three primary phonological processing areas and helps me know the best reading curriculum for your child.  The investment you make by starting testing and/or tutoring will give a life time of dividend returns.  Study after study shows that early intervention is better than waiting to see if it is just a developmental issue.  With the high stakes testing in our public schools, waiting can mean your child may be retained.  A year of specialized tutoring can make a world of difference.

I am one of the few certified dyslexia testing specialist in Florida.  Schools don’t test for dyslexia and they only test for generic learning disabilities.  You need to know specifically what’s going on with your child so that you can get the best reading program in place.

The take away message from this article is that if your intuition has you worried about your child’s reading skills, get them checked out!