Building strong reading skills in kids

Does your child avoid reading, get easily frustrated, or stumble over familiar words? These may be signs they’re having trouble with reading. 

In this episode, we talk to literacy expert Shaquala Holmes, MEd. Shaquala has dedicated her career to helping students become better readers. Listen as she shares:

• Tips for what to look for when reading with your child

• Ways to help kids grow their confidence, one word at a time

Related resources

• How to help kids with reading at home

• Understanding why kids struggle with reading

• 7 tips to help kids understand what they read

Timestamps

(01:20) Ways to assess a child’s reading level

(08:55) How to spark an interest in reading

(11:55) What families can do during reading time

Episode transcript

Julian: Reading is the foundation for success in school and beyond. But what happens when your child is having a hard time making progress? What do you do? What is going on, OG family? Welcome to a new episode of the "Opportunity Gap" in the new year. So excited that we are here in a brand new year. I am your host, Julian.

Today we are joined by an OG expert family member from way back when. We go way back to the beginning of my introduction to the Understood family. So, we have Shaquala Holmes, master of education. She is a literacy specialist and an expert in supporting kids with learning and thinking differences. And she's here to share some helpful tips, tools, and resources with us. So, Shaquala, how's it going? What's going on? Welcome back to the show. How's life?

Shaquala: Good. It's good seeing you. It feels like ages.

Julian: I know, right? So, all right, so let's dive in. Let's dive in. We're talking about reading today and really about literacy. And a lot of our families might not be sure where to start when it comes to understanding where their child's reading skills are. Can you talk us through some very specific strategies that our families can use at home to assess their child's current reading level?

(01:20) Ways to assess a child’s reading level

Shaquala: Yes. So, I know you emphasized home, but I want to start with bridging home to school, because I know most of our families are in a public school or school setting in some sorts, right? So, I think the first thing, parents, I want you to do is partner with the classroom teacher to understand their screening and diagnostic processes. I know that sounds like blah, blah, blah, blah, right?

But just like when you go to doctor, you take your kid to the doctor, they give them a checkup and they run you through all these things. And bottom line, you're like, "What do I need to do to fix it?" If is something wrong, right? Your teacher can take you through a similar process, right?

Like, what is it that my child is struggling with? Like asking those types of questions. How are you assessing them? So, like, what are you using to screen? That means to identify if there is a deficit. And then diagnostic is what? How are you diagnosing my student and my child and providing prescriptive instruction?

Right, so the first thing is ensuring that your child is getting what they need where they spend the bulk of their time, which is at school. And then I would, if that doesn't exist, so if that question comes up and there is no answer, your next step as a parent would be to request assessments. Like advocate for some type of assessment that gives those markers of where your child is in terms of their literacy development. And that starts in pre-K.

So, there's assessments that your child should be receiving to identify where they are. And there's benchmarks that your child should be meeting at all of these grade levels. But say that isn't the case, like if there's a homeschool scenario, you can look at the state standards of where your child should be and you could have your kid read. Like, I know it's just simply open a book and a lot of books are level, like there's lexile levels.

So, look and see like if my child was in first grade the lexile level that's appropriate and if you open the book what do you notice when you ask your child to read, right? Like do they have phonemic awareness? Are they aware that letters have sounds, assigned sounds to them, and that allows you to read words?

So, how they engage with texts would let you know, "Oh they're guessing." And a lot of that came out during Covid. Parents seeing their students read with the teacher on the screen and their teacher was letting them use the pictures to figure out and guess words, read words around the words to figure out what that word is. Like, if your child is using any of those tactics, it's not good because they're going to hit a roadblock because the brain can only memorize so many words.

Julian: So, what I'm hearing you say is, you know, really figuring out how to partner with the teacher and understand what assessments are being used to evaluate the child's reading level. You name-dropped a couple of those key phrases that you may hear in a conversation with the teacher, like diagnostic or prescriptive reading program or lexile level. Those are all things, families, that you should be aware of. And honestly, you can Google any of what those mean.

Lexile level especially is one of those things that nationwide is used to rate the reading level or the grade level of a child. You may hear the difference between instructional and independent reading level. You know, the teacher might talk to you about this is what happens when your child is reading with help, that's their instructional level, versus independently, I give them something to read by themselves and they don't need any help.

So, you know, a lot of things we're about to get into because I think just you touching on those things, these are a lot of things that our families, they need to know, right? Like, what are some things that if you hear it or you see it when your child is reading, that's how you know something's going on?

Shaquala: Yes. So, granted, every child is different.

Julian: That they are.

Shaquala: And right now, if I think about a seven-year-old in first grade, 6 or 7-year-old in first grade, if you were to give them a grade level test, that means any book that's a first great book and you set a one-minute timer, they should be able to read 21 words in that one minute.

So, that's fluency. That means that their word recognition is fluent. They are able to read at a rate because rate determines comprehension. That means understand what they're reading. That's a great indicator of "Is my child where they need to be?"

You will want to, like I said, partnering with the classroom teacher Googling. Hasbrouck and Tindal has great research of words per minute that your student should be able to read at, at different great points. Like so you'll know like, "OK, if my child can read fluently, then this will help them with the comprehension piece."

Julian: And is it literally just watching the child read and counting?

Shaquala: Yeah, how they read correctly in that minute.

Julian: How many words they're reading as they go?

Shaquala: And I wouldn't even tell the child that I'm timing them, you know, because then they're stressed and all that. But you want to ensure your child is reading at a rate because a lot of times they'll read the books, like my son now, he can, he's 17 months, he can open a book and memorize the pictures, right? With the word. Like he kind of even knows like just by habit because we read the exact same book, because that's his favorite book every night.

So, you would even want it to be an unfamiliar book, right? That's grade level. You can even ask the teacher, "Can you give me a book that you think back to that the child can independently read?" Independently more so in terms of grade level, though, because if they can't even independently read at grade level, that's a sure sign, you know, that there's something going on.

Julian: What about if, you know, in the midst of them doing this, reading out loud in front of you and they may be mispronouncing some of the words as they go, is that an indicator of something or should we just let that go?

Shaquala: So, I would look at how they are getting through it. So, if the word is "farmer," right? And they went "pig," right? Well, that was no, like that was you guessing, right? But if they went f-a-r-m-e-r like OK there's some phonemic awareness, this child is aware of letter sounds, right? But they may not see "f," "r," "r" control vowel, "m" "e-r," "r" control vowel. Like they may not know that.

So, that's, we are working with something, right? I would pay attention to that. Do they stop and try to sound out words? And it depends on the age of the child, they may have created these workaround strategies.

Julian: Yeah, coping skills.

Shaquala: Coping skills to get through it, right? And it's so hard to unlearn bad habits, right? Especially when there's confidence and they're aware that they're not great readers. So, I would pay attention to do they try to attack the words? Like do they try to sound out the words? And if they're not doing that, that's the telltale sound that maybe they haven't received explicit phonics instruction or they don't have the tools they need to lift the words off the page.

Julian: One of the things that you talked about earlier was building a partnership with the families and the school, whether it be a teacher, whether it be a reading specialist, and especially for our babies with learning and thinking differences, maybe it's their case manager to figure out how to build a team environment where we're all singing the same tune.

In your opinion, Shaquala, what is the best way for parents to start that conversation when they may notice that their child is struggling with fluency or their child is struggling with decoding where their child really just doesn't like to read? What can they do?

(08:53) How to spark an interest in reading

Shaquala: The first thing I would want to do is ensure that my child is receiving is explicit phonics instruction. And I know that sounds like, "Oh what is that?" Right? So, that means your child is learning all those strategies in terms of when they get to a word, what strategy are they using? Are they guessing? Are they dividing at the syllables, the syllable type? So, first thing you want to do is know what type of instruction is your child receiving.

Julian: Now, should they send an email or should they call the school?

Shaquala: I will have a meeting, so I will want that team, the team of whoever works with the child, I would want to know the curriculum. And I know that sounds like "Oh, like, let's show me the books that you're using with my child." But it's very important because some, we're in this wave right now, it's like the reading wars of like what people believe students should have to learn to read and what science actually says students, the brain, needs to learn to read. And that's explicit phonics instruction.

Julian: Right.

Shaquala: That means they have phonemic awareness, phonics, fluency, like they're working through that, like the word recognition portion of what we call the Scarborough's Reading Rope, if you want to that up. Like, you should bring the rope, you should bring the rope, and say like, "How are you doing this? How are you doing this?" And then you have the language comprehension that vocabulary, syntax, semantics, comprehension, like how are you building those things?

Because all of those things are necessary to create a skilled reader. You want to advocate and ensure that the instruction is aligned to what your child needs and they need all of that. Every child needs that, right?

Julian: That was a very comprehensive answer in that there's a lot of things that families can be doing to start that conversation. But the key is don't let it go by the wayside. Families, if you notice something, if you see something, say something. Whether it's calling a meeting, whether it is making a phone call. I always advocate for sending an email so that there's written documentation that you're requesting support.

But the goal is to not be on the attack mode, more so the gathering information mode. What interventions are happening? What curriculum is being used? What kind of strategies are you using so that I can reinforce them at the house? And nine times out of ten and again, we're both educators, when a family reaches out like that, I feel good about that because I know they're paying attention. All right, cool. Let's talk let's figure this out. Let's talk about, you know, this is inside the school, let's talk about back to the house.

You mentioned phonics. You talked about fluency. You talked about decoding, vocabulary acquisition, comprehension. These are all really big, big things to do, right? This is not going to happen overnight. But if you had to boil down 1 or 2 things that mom and dad can do at home, you know, during homework time or after dinner or before bedtime, what are some things that our families can do during at-home reading time to help support? Just 1 or 2 things.

(11:55) What families can do during reading time

Shaquala: Read aloud with your child. Model to them what reading with expression, pacing, rate, like letting them hear you read. It's so important that students hear adults reading. Good readers read. Let the child hear you read, right? Because a lot of times I think we overwhelm kids and they never get to the fun of reading, like allow them to fall in love with reading. So, I think 100% model proper reading to your child.

Then, I can't say enough about just building their content knowledge. My husband does the word of the day with my son, he's 17 months old, is the word of the day.

Julian: Yeah, yeah.

Shaquala: And building his vocabulary, his content knowledge, talking. Explaining if you walk into the grocery store and your child asks the question, even if you don't know the answer, Google it. Once they learn to read, the hurdle. Like I said, that's only K through three. You have the rest of your life, right? That they have to, like the rest of their schooling to get through. And that's based on content knowledge.

It only takes three or four years to learn to read the words on the page. Then after that, it's a matter of applying all that and being able to compare and contrast, infer, analyzed hits. What do you think the character meant when he did this or she did this? Right? That's deep. That's through talking, right? Someone talking to a child and having conversations.

Julian: It's interesting. So, my children, they've been blessed to have an assistant principal as a dad and a former director of literacy as a mom. And so, books are a big deal in the Saavedra household. We do books for breakfast, where we sit and read. The library is one of our best outings that we go to. And we might, we might rent out, because now they do no fines in a lot of libraries, so we might take out like 25 or 30 books at a time and just go wild with whatever content we're learning about.

My kids get books for Christmas and we do bedtime reading. And I love that you said the modeling, the modeling of being a lover of reading is such a strong, strong strategy to support your children. You know, our children emulate what we do. And so, we have to make sure that we're doing it ourselves.

My kids get at me if I'm not reading my book, they're like, "Dad, you got to get up, man. Like you're behind." They're reading Harry Potter right now and I'm behind. I'm only on like book two and they're already on like book eight. And I'm like, "Uh-uh, well, sorry, kids, I'm trying." But just the fact that, you know, there's a culture built in the home that we expect everybody to be reading and it's a fun thing.

Shaquala: I want to add something to what you said. So, I know you said you go to the library and you read physical books.

Shaquala: Yes.

Julian: But I'm going to raise you one, because what do all our kids usually have in I hands? A device.

Julian: Not mine. But we can talk about that later.

Shaquala: But the majority of households.

Julian: Yes, yes.

Shaquala: I add, how can we use that device to put literature on it? There's apps like Epic. Epic is really fun and cool and it has videos, it has like all these things, books on that apps.

Julian: Yes. Yes it does.

Shaquala: Like make them fun, and I will set a timer and like say, "Yes, you can have your device, but you have to read for 15 minutes on the device."

Julian: You know, we are the "Opportunity Gap" and we focus on learning and thinking differences for the Black and brown community specifically. I'm interested to know what is your take on the perceived epidemic of our Black children not reading and not loving to read and not loving the idea of literacy and being struggling readers.

Shaquala: If you are noticing something with your child and you have the voice and you have the knowledge and you're listening to this podcast, you already are in the position to where you have to use your voice to advocate for every child in the school building, right? So, if your child's not getting something, you want to make sure not only is my child not getting what they need, other kids aren't getting what they need. And I'm going to be the biggest voice and I'm going to sound the alarm.

There needs to be an alarm sound in the Black and brown community in terms of what our students need in their classrooms every day, every day in terms of literacy instruction. If you know what should be happening, you should be sounding an alarm and you should be telling everyone around you, "Hey, you, come here. We come into this meeting, you should be asking this question because one voice can illuminate two more voices."

I just, we need more parents telling other parents what needs to be done so that all parents are in these spaces advocating for their students, right?

Julian: I love that, you know, you name what needs to be done, right? We talk a lot about on this podcast that we are a community. And the only way that we move forward is with a community. Like it's not just individualized. We move together. I think the idea of having representation in our literature, of making sure our children know that we come from a very rich tradition of literacy and that we have writers, we have poets, we have authors, we have so much of a tradition in our community and that we are now living within that and we cannot let that die.

I think that is really where we want to make sure that we continue our focus. So, I love that you're talking about how we can get into the schools, how if we do have that access, get into the building, go read at your child's school, go do a literacy day, go to the library. I'm still going to advocate for hardcover books.

Shaquala: Yes.

Julian: Because I'm oldhead like that. If you want to get on the devices, you can read on the device too, that's fine. But just make sure that you're reading.

Shaquala: Yes.

And so, we are we are coming to a close, but before we leave out, Shaquala, I'd love to know just a couple of, you know, final tip or words of encouragement for any of our parents out there. And she is one of them. She's new in the game, but she is one of them.

Shaquala: I'm a baby in the game.

Julian: Who are trying to support their child's literacy development? You have any final words of wisdom for our listeners out there?

Shaquala: Model good reading. Like just be a reader. Advocate to ensure your child is getting what they need to become a great reader. This is like so important. Like this work can't be a passive thing. You have to be on the court passing the ball, right? And ensuring that your child is getting what they need.

Julian: That is a wrap for today's episode. I want to just say a big thank you and extreme gratitude to Shaquala for joining us today. Until the next time OG family. We will talk to you soon.

Thanks so much for listening today. We love hearing from our listeners. So, if you have any thoughts about today's episode, you can email us at opportunitygap@understood.org. And be sure to check out the show notes for links and resources to anything we mentioned in the episode.

This show is brought to you by Understood.org. Understood is a nonprofit organization dedicated to empowering people with learning and thinking differences like ADHD and dyslexia.

The "Opportunity Gap" is produced by the Tara Drinks and edited by Daniela Tello-Garzon. Our theme music was written by Justin D. Wright, who also mixes the show. Ash Beecher is our supervising producer. Briana Berry is our production director. Neil Drumming is our editorial director. Our executive directors are Laura Key, Scott Cocchiere, and Seth Melnick. Thanks again for listening.