This document provides strategies for supporting struggling readers. It defines struggling readers as children who have difficulty learning to read due to issues with phonological awareness, fluency, comprehension, or motivation. Some potential causes of reading struggles are difficulties with concentration, feeling behind peers, speech or language issues, family history of reading problems, or dyslexia. The document then recommends seven strategies for helping struggling readers: assigning reading partners, visualizing passages, reading aloud, follow-up discussions, choral reading, reading quizzes, and questioning the text.

2. “ESSENTIAL READING
STRATEGIES FOR
STRUGGLING
READERS”

4. What are struggling readers?
A struggling reader is a child who
finds difficulty learning to read.
Struggling readers are different
from reluctant readers, but many
may also be reluctant readers. This is
because they find reading difficult and
frustrating, which leads to them
refusing to learn.

5. Why do some readers struggle?
There are lots of reasons
why a child might be a struggling
reader. For example, the child
might:
 find it difficult to sit still
and concentrate because
they're more of an active
learner;

6. feel that they're behind
their peers, leading to
anxiety around reading;
have speech and language
difficulties;

7. have a history of reading or
spelling difficulties in their
family;

8. have dyslexia or other literacy learning difficulties.
Dyslexia is a learning
disorder that involves difficulty
reading due to problems
identifying speech sounds and
learning how they relate to letters
and words (decoding). Also called
a reading disability, dyslexia is a
result of individual differences in
areas of the brain that process
language

9. Identifying why a
child is
struggling with
reading is the
first step to
helping and
supporting them.

10. Is my child/pupil a struggling reader?
Not all children who find reading difficult will be
'struggling readers'. All children learn at their own pace - one
child might be reading extremely well, making it look like their
classmates are struggling. But this isn't the case.
Some children may learn to read later than their peers
for no reason at all. At the ages of four or five, there's no need
to worry just yet. There's still plenty of time for them to learn
at their own pace.

11. Identifying a struggling reader
1. Phonic Awareness
If a child has strong phonic awareness, they'll be able to
recognise the relationship between sounds and letters and apply
this knowledge to decode new, unfamiliar words.
Struggling with phonic awareness can make reading
difficult. Children might mix up the letters and their sounds, so
when they try to read aloud, it comes out wrong. One of the
most common examples of this is mixing up the letters 'n' and
'm'. Lack of phonic awareness is one of the main reasons that
children struggle with reading, and without improvement, it can be
the cause of other problems with reading down the line.

13. 2. Fluency
Having strong reading fluency means
that when you read aloud, it sounds natural.
The words flow out in sentences, rather than
individual sounds. The reading is accurate and
not slow or stilted.
For children struggling with reading
fluency, they may read aloud like they're
reading a list of sounds. They read slowly
and have to take extra time to decode
words.
Fluency difficulties mean that the child focuses so hard
on reading the words aloud, they don't hear what the story
is about. This can lead to struggles with comprehension.

15. 3. Comprehension
Comprehension allows you to actually understand
what you're reading - it involves using background
knowledge and vocabulary to construct meaning from a
text. Without this skill, you're simply reading words
without understanding them.
Many children struggle with comprehension when
they're learning to read. They may focus on something
else, such as the pictures in the book or simply being
able to read aloud, and this detracts from their overall
understanding. When they're asked what the book was
about after they've finished reading, they may not be
able to answer.

16. 4. Motivation
Motivation can be a huge hurdle for children learning to
read. If you're not excited to jump into a book and start
reading, and you'd rather be doing anything else, it'll severely
impact your focus.
Lack of motivation stems from other issues. If a child is
reading books that are above their reading level and they
struggle to understand them, they'll feel disheartened and less
likely to want to continue.
Children can also become frustrated when
dealing with their lack of phonic awareness and
underdeveloped fluency and comprehension skills.
It's exhausting to try reading over and over again
to no avail.

18. 1. Assign reading partners,
cross-grade or peers
Pair up two kids from different grade
levels to work together. They can help
each other improve reading
comprehension regardless of their grade
level. Both older and younger students
benefit from this arrangement.

19. 2. Visualize reading passages
The key ingredient for visualizing passages
is to encourage students to create mental pictures
or movies in their minds. They can take their prior
knowledge and combine it with their own
visualizations. Kids may identify with characters
and the story’s world.
Use picture books or text with descriptive
language to promote the use of this technique. Be
sure to ask students questions such as:
 "What did you see as you read the passage?"
 “What do you think [character] looks like?”
 “Can you draw a picture of the story’s setting?”

20. 3. Try reading
aloudReading aloud promotes fluency and literacy. As
teachers and parents read to children, it builds their
language development and communication skills.
It's easy to keep kids engaged as they pay
attention to their teacher's articulation and cadence. Be
sure to involve your students by inviting them to
comment on the story and ask questions.

21. 4. Follow up
reading with class
discussions
After you finish reading a book to your students, start a class
discussion to help students retain what they've learned. By directing
comments and questions to students it encourages them to participate.
Here are a few tips to consider when following up with class
discussions:
o Invite students to write notes for the discussion. They may provide
interesting points on why they agree or disagree with the topic.
o Encourage students to jot down the things that they don't understand
so that you can clarify these points for them.
o Ask a thought-provoking question or series of questions to promote
active class participation.
o Break the class into smaller groups to promote deep conversations
among students.

22. 5. Do some choral
reading
Choral reading occurs when
teachers and students read a passage
together. Students learn how to
pronounce tough words, boost
confidence, increase vocabulary and
improve reading fluency.
Choral reading works very well
when teachers pair two students
together. Each student takes turns
reading out loud while the other pupil
actively listens. This scenario helps
struggling students when they're
working with a strong reader, and
a 2007 study showed that partner
reading improves reader fluency.

23. 6. Create reading
quizzes
Reading quizzes show
teachers where students’
strengths and weaknesses are
when it comes to reading
comprehension.
When creating
interactive or print quizzes, you
can use fill-in-the-blank,
true/false or multiple choice
test questions. Pose a variety of
question types to challenge
your students without making
the quiz impossible to complete.

24. 7. Play question
the text
Use the "Question the text" method to keep kids
interested in reading. Get them to ask questions,
especially if they don't understand what they've read.
Asking questions about the text brings meaning
to the reading material. Students can also form their
own opinions about the passage or text.