Part 2: Developmental/Skill Factors
In part 1 of this series we explained a few easy tricks to improve reading/writing skills. For some those tactics aren’t enough. When thinking about your early school years and comparing them with the young elementary students today, what differences come to mind? Also, what can parents do to create engagement around reading?
Students are not developmentally ready for some school expectations
Kindergarten experiences have changed from your parents’ school days to your child’s. That is to be expected as we understand more about child development and recognize the seesaw effect of educational pedagogy. Since each grade level builds upon knowledge and skills from the previous year, learning is a gradual process and looks different for each child.
If a child is struggling to achieve the academic standards in place for their grade level does that indicate a learning disability? So many children are labeled with learning disabilities today, some of those are correctly diagnosed while others may have a more ambiguous label. Let’s consider one possible reason for a misdiagnosis: students are not developmentally ready to meet some of the expectations placed on them by schools today.
Let’s go back to the year 1979 and look at a few of the 11 requirements for incoming First Graders according to a graphic from a blog post Kindergarten Then and Now¹:
- Has 2-5 permanent teeth.
1970’s St. Stanislaus Elementary School Winona, Minnesota
- Can tell the police where he lives.
- Can ride a bike without training wheels.
- Can tell the left hand from the right hand.
- Can count 8-10 pennies.
- Tries to copy letters and numbers.
Now let’s look at some on a list from an article posted in 2022 titled 45 Things Your Child Should Know Before Entering First Grade²:
- Memorize and correctly spell 130-150 words.
- Write in complete sentences.
- Hold a pencil, crayon, or marker correctly.
- Add and subtract numbers 1-10.
- Understand what history is and know some stories, events and people in history.
- Know the 4 seasons and their different climates.
- Share and communicate appropriately with other students.
Facebook.com/jpejags
These lists have quite a few differences, right? While these certainly aren’t the only lists of their kind, they do a good job at showing the focus of early education at the time. Currently the emphasis is strongly academic driven, whereas in other generations the focus was more on learning through play. It’s true, every child is different. If your child isn’t meeting all of the academic standards right now, they may just need more time until their brain and body are developmentally ready to tackle these more challenging tasks.
How to assist young readers at home
Aside from developmental readiness and any vision/other conditions interfering with reading addressed, how can families support struggling readers in a home environment?
First and foremost, expose your readers to many forms of books and reading environments to make it novel and fun to find what format they are drawn to most. Choose age appropriate materials but formats from picture books, chapter books, graphic novels, audiobooks, depending on age and skill even turning on the captions for a tv show or movie can bring words to life. Help them grow and nurture a love of reading and the joys it can bring. Reading together is one of the most powerful tools to helping your child learn the skills good readers have. Local libraries have many resources and events to check out as well.
Secondly, embrace these 4 tips shared by the Institute of Education Sciences from their article Tips for Supporting Reading Skills at Home³:
- Have conversations before, during and after reading together.
- Help children learn how to break sentences into words and words into syllables.
- Help children sound out words smoothly.
- Model reading fluently by practicing reading aloud with your child.
Lastly, understand how much of an impact vision has on learning. This, coupled with the fact that the English language has many rules and exceptions really puts learners to the test. All skills we work on here at Nebraska Visual Integration Center are a reminder of just how much coordination and skill go into being able to do any task well, especially reading. Being able to focus clearly, use the two eyes together, track a line of text, understand spatial awareness and all visual thinking skills together must be working seamlessly to give someone the best chance of interacting with learning material and achieving any skill they wish to learn.
Happy Reading!
References
Kindergarten Then and Now¹
https://www.acorntoak.com/2023/03/07/kindergarten-then-and-now/
45 Things Your Child Should Know Before Entering First Grade²
https://www.genieacademy.com/blog/things-your-child-should-know-before-first-grade
Tips for Supporting Reading Skills at Home³
https://ies.ed.gov/ncee/wwc/Docs/practiceguide/wwc_fr_tips_022118.pdf
