Why is Reading and Spelling so Hard for my Child? Structured Literacy to the Rescue!
I’ll start by letting you know that structured literacy is a big part of the intervention I do at Communicate With Kate! As I’ve discussed in various other blogs, we (SLPs) don’t just do 'speech’! Speech (or in technical terms phonology) is THE foundation to literacy so when I am working with a child on speech/articulation, I’m ALWAYS looking at those early literacy skills as well to see where we need to go next. For a free literacy consult, hop on over to my Structured Literacy Intervention page, contact me and keep reading! I explain what all of this means!
I’m going to throw a few statistics at you. . .
The most recent data (2019) from The National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) states that 35% of 4th grade students are reading at the ‘Proficient’ level or above. That means that 65% of children are NOT.
One in six children who are NOT reading proficiently in 3rd grade does not graduate from high school on time (rate is 4x greater than for proficient readers) (Hernandez, D https://eric.ed.gov/?id=ED518818)
Ascend Learning Center breaks down a general education classroom even further to show what we typically see:
15-20% of your classroom will learn to read with no direct instruction (implicit learning through basic exposure)
40% will learn to read WITH direct instruction
20% will learn to read with ADDITIONAL supports AND direction instruction
15-20% will need significant support through explicit, systematic instruction
When we look at a ‘typical’ classroom, along with the NAEP statistics, we see that even those children who ‘should’ be learning to read with basic direct instruction are still falling below the mark at assessment time. What’s going on??
Reading instruction has always been a controversial topic and it seems the pendulum swings frequently between which ‘method’ is ‘best’ (you know this if you’ve ever worked in the schools). You may have heard the terms ‘Guided Reading’, ‘Balanced Literacy’ or ‘Whole Language Approach’ to name just a few. These approaches are quite common in general education classrooms. For those children who learn to read ‘implicitly’ through simple exposure, these methods work just fine. But for the rest of a typical classroom (that’s 60-80% of that classroom!), these methods simply aren’t enough. That’s why a STRUCTURED LITERACY approach is essential for teaching MOST children how to effectively read and write and it is ESSENTIAL for children with dyslexia or a learning disability in reading.
So what is Structured Literacy? This methodology is well known in the dyslexia community because it is the ‘gold standard’ of instruction. However, it’s NOT just for children with dyslexia. It benefits ALL children. The International Dyslexia Association has a great explanation of the methodology. The distinctive element of structured literacy is that it must be SYSTEMATIC, EXPLICIT and CUMULATIVE. This means that the organization of the concepts taught must follow the logical sequence/order of language. Easier concepts must be very directly and explicitly taught first. Concepts progress methodically and build upon all concepts already taught and practiced. Again, NOTHING here is implicit. It’s EXPLICIT, direct and deliberately taught/supported through every step.
The last critical element is that structured literacy is DIAGNOSTIC and individualized to each student. In order to meet each student’s needs, we must be continually assessing where they are and what they need, in order to ensure mastery and automaticity with the concepts.
While this all sounds highly ‘customized’ (i.e. like a lot of work to implement!), it’s actually not more difficult. It simply requires a clear framework and a strong knowledge of our language system. Here’s what that ‘framework’ looks like and what EVERY Structured Literacy lesson should include. . . .
Phonology: study of the sound structure of our spoken language. This should include phonemic awareness and phonological awareness tasks that require a student to hear, identify and manipulate the individual speech sounds in our words
Orthography: This is the ‘phonics’ piece, where we make those sound to letter connections and work on word level reading/spelling
Syllable Instruction: Did you know there are 6 basic syllable ‘types’ in the english language? A syllable must have a vowel sound so by teaching children these syllable types and spelling rules associated with them, they can better identify (and DECODE or ENCODE) these syllables. This is SUCH a critical skill for when children begin to encounter multisyllabic words in their text (which starts in the 1st grade believe it or not!!!). This is also an area that I don’t believe is often explicitly taught well (if at all) in many classroom settings.
Morphology & Syntax: Morphology refers to the smallest unit of meaning in a word and is when we teach children how to identify the root/base word, suffixes and prefixes. Again, this isn’t something we save for late elementary. Children are encountering and USING many suffixes and verb endings in their speech within the first 3 years of life (‘ing’ verb endings, plural or possessive ‘s’ endings)! Syntax refers to the sequence and function of words within a sentence and how to make meaning from that. This is where grammar comes into play and is explicitly taught, along with sentence/passage level reading which takes all of the above decoding skills and puts them into ‘real world’ reading contexts!
Semantics/Vocabulary: This refers to the meaning of words and is when we make the big leap to COMPREHENSION. Structured Literacy doesn’t save this for the end. We work on vocabulary and meaning from the very beginning, building those necessary skills for comprehension.
Reading Comprehension and Fluency
When all of the above critical elements are targeted, explicitly taught and given time/support for a child to practice and build automaticity, the end result is READING COMPREHENSION and FLUENCY (also integrated into each lesson). That’s the goal, right? For a child to have the confidence and SKILLS to decode and spell any word they come across! Without this skill, they’re left guessing, skipping the word and their comprehension immediately falls apart, along with their confidence.
There are many possible reasons that a child may be a struggling reader/writer. The issue could be with decoding and challenges with that sound/print connection (the profile we see in dyslexia). It could be with semantics/vocabulary and challenges with language comprehension (these may be children who already have a speech/language impairment diagnosis or who have always struggled with comprehension or even verbal expression). Or, it could be BOTH. Additionally, when children struggle in other areas including attention, executive functioning, working memory and anxiety, these can ALL play a part in the reading/writing struggle. With a solid structured literacy curriculum you can both assess and investigate where the breakdown is occurring AND target your instruction to best support that child, WITHIN a very clear and supportive framework that works.
So is there just one curriculum out there that fits the bill? Nope. There are several very strong structured literacy curriculums out on the market now, each with their own ‘flavor’ but ALL incorporating the structured literacy methodology. Orton-Gillingham is probably best known as the ‘gold standard’ of this approach because it has been in existence for over 80 years and was one of the first to use scientific evidence about how people learn to read. However, today there are quite a few programs out there that follow the same ‘structured literacy/Science of Reading’ methodology and incorporate the same systematic, explicit, multi-sensory and diagnostic elements. I, myself, have used elements from several different structured literacy programs to achieve great results with my students. The key is for the curriculum to truly follow the structured literacy methodology and to have the ‘framework’ in place that we know, from research and the ‘science of reading’ , really works. While some programs out there SAY they’re ‘structured literacy’, they don’t all follow this framework and include ALL of the elements discussed above. I can’t stress enough how critical this is!
So if you’re a parent of a child who struggles with reading and writing, please know that there IS an evidence-based, proven methodology that can help your child grow and achieve in this area. However, for many, you may need to look outside of your child’s school system for this level of support. Use of a solid structured literacy program is KEY to their success. Finding a clinician who is knowledgeable in this area will ensure that instruction is individualized, that all of those ‘missing’ foundational building blocks for reading are filled in and will help your child reach their full potential. So ask questions when you’re looking for support! “Do you use a structured literacy methodology?” “What approach to reading do you use?” “What elements do you incorporate into your instruction?” (i.e. does each lesson incorporate phonology, orthography, morphology/syntax, semantics) If ‘structured literacy’ and the critical elements talked about above aren’t mentioned, it just might not be the most effective approach for your child.
If you’re looking for support in the state of Michigan, I provide structured literacy intervention both online (for MI residents) and in-person in my Ann Arbor office. Contact me directly for a free consultation. It’s never too late to get this support for your child!
