It can be worrying when your child is trying hard at school, but still finds learning difficult.
One area of learning that concerns many parents is reading. After all, it’s an important skill that will support ongoing learning, both at school, and throughout life.
You might be wondering:
- “Why can’t they get it?”
- “Are they falling behind?”
- “Is there something wrong with them?”
If this sounds familiar, you’re not alone.
Many children who struggle with reading are bright, capable, and are clearly trying their best. This can often lead to suggestions they might need some sort of diagnosis.
Learning to read may look simple enough. However, it involves more than simply recognising letters on a page.
We also need to be able to recognise the sounds that belong to each letter, and how to group those letters together to form words.
What Might Be Making Reading Hard
Learning, whether in the classroom or elsewhere, relies on a range of underlying skills that develop during infancy and early childhood
Reading can become easier when children are able to:
- bring both eyes together to focus on a single point on the page
- track their eyes smoothly together across a page
- process sounds and connect them to letters
- focus and concentrate on a task
- coordinate their eyes and body
- feel calm and safe enough to learn
If any of these areas feel difficult, learning to read can become frustrating, sometimes causing children to simply give up, saying “it’s too hard”.
When a child realises they are struggling to achieve something that looks simple to others, the risk is damage to their confidence and self esteem.
What You Might Notice
If you’ve sat with your child while they are trying to read, you might have noticed them:
- losing their place when reading
- skipping words or jumping lines
- avoiding reading tasks
- rubbing their eyes
- red or watery eyes
- becoming tired or upset quickly
- saying things like “I can’t do this”
These are not signs of laziness. You can see your child is doing their best, but things are just not falling into place as you might have expected.
They are signs that your child may benefit from some support.
Extra tutoring, more reading programs, or pushing your child to “try harder” may not be the answer.
Looking Beneath the Surface
What we see in the classroom is often just the surface. The underlying reason for your child’s struggle are often linked to early development.
Foundational skills like the sense of balance, coordination, sensory processing and their nervous system all play a role in how easily a child learns.
When a child’s early development has been interrupted, these foundational skills may need some more support.
Foundations for Learning: Vision, Balance and Listening
A Gentle Next Step
If your child is struggling to read, it can help to look a little deeper.
For over 20 years I have been using a developmental approach to support children who struggle with learning and behavioural difficulties. Often, the first step is to help them to feel safe, seen and know that someone understands them.
It’s normal to be concerned if your child is struggling at school, with parents often wondering what they can do to help.
If your child is struggling with reading, or other aspects of being at school, counselling and parenting support is a good place to start.
With the right support, children can build the foundations they need to feel more confident and capable, supporting learning in all its forms throughout life – physical, emotional and academic.
You don’t have to navigate this alone.
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