Struggling readers often battle with their homework completion tasks. This can adversely affect their subject grades, erode their motivation for academics, and cause conflicts between readers, teachers, and parents. However, reading tutors can help struggling readers improve their homework quality and submission rates by working directly with them. This article describes how reading tutors can work with struggling readers to resolve their homework difficulties.
The first step toward resolving struggling readers’ homework difficulties is identifying common reading problems. Below we share the three most common reading problems.
Some children can master word recognition and read fluently. However, if the child is unable to tell what they have read, then there might be a comprehension problem. Such children may also face hurdles when listening to a teacher or parent read aloud. Similarly, they might find it difficult when trying out a passage for themselves.
Children can have trouble reading words for many different reasons. There is a possibility they suffer from a sensory processing disorder that affects the way they visually see the text on paper. Or, it could be that the child struggles to make a connection between the letter sounds and the written word.
Multiple factors affect the literacy skills of children with mixed reading issues. It can be issues that include decoding words and difficulty with comprehension. Such children also face difficulties with intervention. Not only do these children have challenges with phonemic awareness, but they also find it challenging to retain information.
When kids come home from school with homework assignments, it can feel daunting for them if they struggle with reading comprehension or fluency. So how can you as a parent offer help? Research suggests creating a literacy-friendly atmosphere at home and hiring a tutor who can regularly read to them, have them tell a "story”, or play language games with them, can make all the difference. In this section, we describe how reading tutors can help struggling readers with their homework.
Reading aloud not only helps reading tutors forge a personal bond with the struggling reader but also shows them how exciting and engaging reading can be while exposing them to fluency and vocabulary beyond their current reading level.
If your child runs into trouble with a sound-it-out reading method, reading tutors can offer homework help that makes use of other word-solving strategies. Learning words by sight, noticing letter blends such as "er” or "ing” and using the context of the story are a few ways that can help struggling readers hone their skills.
Young children do not hear the sounds within words. Hence, they hear "dog,” but not the "duh”-”aw”-”guh.” To become readers, children need to learn to hear these sounds (phonemes). As they can’t sound out the words or write them without knowing the letter sounds. Hence, an online reading tutor can play language games with your child to upgrade their reading and writing skills.
Literacy involves reading and writing and it makes sense to think of reading and writing as closely related skills. As both involve manipulating letters, words, and sentences to convey meaningful information, online reading tutors can use writing in three basic ways to help their students increase reading comprehension. These are:
Reading tutors can monitor the progress of struggling readers, thereby, helping them build an optimistic, accurate, "I can do it” attitude. This can help struggling readers complete their homework.
Read With Us is an online reading tutors’ platform that can be used by parents to improve their child’s reading comprehension, vocabulary, and language fluency. Furthermore, tutors can:
Low motivation for homework, reading, and other assignments can adversely affect learning and achievement, which can also affect a struggling reader’s entire future. Thus, it is important to resolve these problems in ways that enhance motivation and self-efficacy. And, hiring a reading expert is the way forward. Hence, if you are looking for an online reading tutor, get in touch with us.