Tips for parents of children in grades K to 8

Literacy is one of the most important skills children acquire in school.  While most children pick up reading Hebrew and English without much difficulty, 20% to 30% may experience challenges.  This post provides tips to show parents how to identify problems early, remediate literacy challenges, and work with their childrens’ Yeshivos to ensure their children receive a solid foundation in reading.

We thank the mechanchim/mechanchos and reading specialists who generously contributed their experience and expertise for this article.

Common Causes of Reading Problems

Developmental Lag:   The general academic consensus is that children acquire literacy anywhere from ages 5 to 7.  This means that some children are not ready to learn reading at the age that they are taught and that some are not taught at the age when they finally are ready.

Attention Issues:   Attention Deficit Disorder (ADD) and other disorders impede a child’s ability to concentrate.

Missing Steps:  For various reasons (illness, moves, difficulty with the teacher or other social, learning, or behavioral challenges), a child may miss one of the stages of literacy training.  Since each stage builds on the previous, the child may not be able to catch up.

Phonological Deficiencies:  Some children have trouble identifying sounds and breaking words into different sounds.  Language deficits, such as delayed speech or poor intelligibility, are also associated with literacy difficulties.

Vision Challenges:  Children may be farsighted and need reading glasses.  Others may have trouble getting their eyes to focus properly (convergence) or to maintain focus on the right place on the page (tracking).   Some may see letters in reverse.

Before Starting Pre1a

In the mainstream Yeshiva system, children are taught Hebrew, and sometimes English, letters at age four in Kindergarten.  The next year in Pre1a, they learn Hebrew reading, with a lighter emphasis on reading English.  They are expected to acquire English literacy by the end of first grade.  Educators discourage parents from teaching their children to read before they start school, since this may lead the child to tune out the drills and reinforcement that s/he may need to build fluency.

Building Reading Readiness

Reading to children is a great way to prepare them to read.  This may start at birth.  Hearing the words helps children develop a familiarity with the rhythm and flow of language, acquire richer vocabularies, as well as inferencing skills.

Rhyming books are especially useful for children to build phonological awareness.  If the child has trouble “hearing” the rhyme or the alliterations in the books, parents may teach it by showing the child how words are formed out of sounds.  Language-based games such as “name the sound”, especially for initial sounds in words, are also helpful.  Games that focus on initial sounds are also useful (e.g. Let’s put BBBalls and BBats in the BBBAsket.)

There are many ways parents can familiarize preschoolers with the shapes and sounds of the aleph bais and alphabet.  Puzzles and cookie cutters allow children to feel the shapes of the letters.  Cookie cutters may be used to form shapes in sand, which the child can trace with his/her fingers.  Coloring books provide more ways to interact with the letters.

Accents and Pronunciation

When parents are from a background different from their child’s Yeshiva, they need to decide at the outset whether they want their child to read Hebrew their way or the Yeshiva’s way.  This issue arises when parents have Israeli, Sefardi or Chassidish pronunciation.  If the child is to be taught using the Yeshiva’s pronunciation system, parents may need to adopt that system themselves for kriya practice or find a tutor for kriya work.

Warning Signs

Sometime during the kindergarten year, teachers or parents may detect signs of upcoming reading challenges:

• Difficulty learning the names and sounds of letters
• Insensitivity to rhyme or alliteration
• Delays in speech or difficulties with articulation

Aside from the red flags listed above, parents may be aware of other risk factors for their child, such as their own reading challenges or problems they encountered with siblings.

Early Interventions

Repeat Kindergarten

If the child is immature or born close to the end of the school’s cutoff date, having the child repeat kindergarten may be a good option.  However, parents should keep in mind that repeating kindergarten may not be enough to solve potential reading problems.  Parents need to stay in contact with the school staff during this repeated year to ascertain that their child is keeping up with the class in the pre-reading skills.

Have the Child Assessed

Depending on the extent and severity of the child’s problems, the preschool staff or the pediatrician may recommend a full evaluation by the local school board to find out more about their child’s issues and to try to obtain government funding for remediation.  Alternatively, it may be sufficient to have the child assessed by an eye doctor, occupational therapist (OT), speech-language pathologist, or reading specialist.  It is very important to use the services of a professional who has experience evaluating children with literacy deficits.  Even at preschool age, simple tests can be performed to determine whether the problem is due to visual, auditory, or other deficits.  Based on the assessment, parents should expect to be given instructions on how to build their child’s skills.

Select a School Carefully

If the child’s delay in reading readiness is a maturational issue, finding a school that teaches reading later may be helpful.

If the issue is more complicated, and it’s difficult to be certain at this age that it isn’t, the child may be better out starting out in a Yeshiva that has the resources to help.  Parents may investigate the resource room, learning center, and availability of reading specialists.  They should also inquire who would direct their child’s learning and try to meet this staff member in advance.

Work with the Child

Preschool staff or professionals who meet the child should be able to recommend exercises and activities to help remedy the child’s deficits.  Home activities may make a significant difference for the child.

Pre1a and First Grade

What are the School’s Expectations?

Parents who wish to monitor their child’s progress need to know the informal sub-goals of the school year.  Generally, the school year may be divided into “by Chanuka”, “by Purim”, and “by the end of the year”.  In each school, students are expected to accomplish certain milestones by the end of these markers.  Knowing the expectations helps parents understand whether their child is keeping up with the class.

The Importance of Homework

Reading homework is crucial when the child is learning how to read, because this provides the drill and repetition to build a solid foundation for literacy.  A classroom is not a setting in which each child can be given extensive supervised drill. The homework sessions also help parents identify problem areas.  If the child struggles with the homework, there may be an underlying problem which should be discussed with the Rebbe/Morah or teacher.  Frequent communication between home and school is essential when children experience academic challenges.

Red Flags

At kindergarten and first grade, children should be aware that words are composed of a sequence of sounds and that sounds are associated with specific letters.  If the child makes reading errors unconnected with the sounds of the letters, there may be a difficulty with phonological awareness.  It is also a bad sign if the non-kvetching child complains at this age that reading is too hard.

Summer Homework

It is crucial that children practice their reading in Hebrew and English during the summers after Pre1a and first grade.  In mainstream Yeshivos, the first grade limudei kodesh curriculum is based on the assumption that the students have mastered kriya.  For most children, reading drills over the summer is the only way to retain their newly acquired proficiency so that they are prepared for the next stage.  For a student with reading challenges, summer is the time when they either catch up to their peers due to extensive practice – or fall further behind.

 

Middle Grades

While a child may have picked up reading easily in Pre1a, parents are advised to continue monitoring the child’s reading, especially Hebrew, for the following reasons:

• The reading gets harder: Children are reading longer passages with smaller print. Rashi script without nekudos is added to their work load.  Problems such as vision issues may emerge at this point.
• The child may be concealing problems: children find ways to compensate for poor reading skills by memorizing, avoiding, or mumbling.
• Skills may deteriorate without practice: Students do not have much opportunity to read aloud in class. Homework assignments might not include sufficient reading practice to reinforce skills.
• This is the time to build fluency. During the initial reading training, accuracy is the prime objective.  Once accuracy is achieved, children are expected to read with greater speed and smoothness. This requires building a large sight vocabulary.

While the phonetic and consistent Hebrew system is intrinsically easier than English, children often read better in English because they understand what they are reading.  Moreover, the child is constantly inundated with English words, whereas s/he is only exposed to Hebrew during formal learning times. If the child is happily reading chapter books, parents probably need not worry about reinforcing English reading skills.  Kriya, however, requires consistent attention from the parents to ensure that the child acquires fluency.

Comprehension

By the middle grades, the focus shifts from reading accurately to reading for comprehension. Comprehension difficulties tend to show after fourth grade and may follow students through high school. A reading specialist or speech-language pathologist can teach students comprehension strategies.

 

 

Kriya Drill Techniques

Reading specialists highly recommend extensive drilling when children learn reading to head off or solve reading problems.  While the child is learning to read, drill consists of doing homework and then practicing further by repeating the same homework or by finding workbooks with similar material.

Once the child learns how to read, drill may be done by reading from the siddur or mishnayos and later, from Tehillim (which contains harder and less familiar words).  Additionally, there are books written in Hebrew which may be enjoyable to read and translate together. While most schools have sufficient fluency practice, it may be a good idea to occasionally listen to the child read.  If a 3^rd/4^th grader seems truly proficient, parents might stop the kriya practice but encourage the child to undertake shnayim mikra/echod targum (reading the parsha with Targum Onkelos).

Note that a child who struggles benefits more from repeated readings (as in reading the same Pasuk until it’s fluent) than from reading more Tehillim.

Tips for drill:

• Keep it gentle: don’t pounce on mistakes. One technique is for the parent to put a finger under the letter or word being practiced and not to move it until the child reads it correctly.  Use lots of positive reinforcement to make the child feel good about his/her skills.
• Accuracy should be worked on first. Once the child is accurate, the parent may try for speed and fluency.
• If the child tires of reading, take turns reading, finger on the place, while the child follows along inside. Hearing someone read words is a beneficial drill.
• Offer tiny prizes for each line (or word, if necessary): single winkies, chocolate chips…
• Vary the drill by having the child read different portions of the page: e.g. all the words that start with daled, lines that have the letter ayin, or words that end with “nu”.
• Ease up on the drill by having him/her read familiar parts of davening from the siddur.
• Reread the same line or word several times: this is easier than constantly reading unfamiliar words and is an excellent way to increase fluency.
• Try choral reading, in which first the parent reads, then the child reads along with the parent, and then the child reads on his/her own. This eases the decoding task.
• During weekdays, especially long summer days, use technology: let the child record him/herself reading, use walkie/talkies, play a fanfare when s/he gets it right…

Depending on the child’s kriya level, it may be better to correct mistakes instantly, in order to avoid reinforcing incorrect reading or to wait for the end of a sentence, and ask the child to go back and find the errors.  For example, the parent may tell a more practiced reader: “You read the posuk very well, but two words weren’t perfect.  Can you please try again?” This approach may be better for building fluency and confidence in the reading.

Note: While improving kriya is important, it must not be done at the expense of the parent/child relationship.  Parents should keep in mind the child’s tolerance for drill and repetition and stop before s/he reaches the limit.

Getting Help

Reading problems rarely involve total inability to read.  Usually, the symptom is that the child reads slowly and haltingly.  The school may recommend the following interventions:

Resource Room

Many schools have specialists on staff to work individually or in small groups with children who have trouble acquiring the reading skill that their class is learning.  About a quarter of the students in an average Pre1A class are likely to be sent out for this extra help.   The resource room cannot remediate serious problems, since children are not allocated sufficient time for serious reading work.  However, parents can make better use of this resource when they diligently follow through on reading exercises assigned by the professional working with their child.  This includes spending the time assigned for reading practice, and adhering precisely to the assigned material which may have been carefully selected to help with a specific reading challenge.  It is also important to send feedback to the resource room about how the homework went.

Tutoring

While many reading issues can be resolved through extra drill, many parents don’t have the time, patience, or the expertise to work seriously and consistently with their children.  It may be more effective and easier on the parent/child relationship to hire someone to do the drill with their child.

The tutor need not have special expertise with reading.  S/he should be someone intelligent with good people skills who is able to work closely with the staff member who is supervising the child’s education at school.  A combination of resource room and tutoring should be effective to solve the common reading problems where some letters, vowels and combinations were never acquired properly by the child.  More serious problems need a more specialized approach and an experienced tutor or a reading specialist.

 

Reading Specialist

Reading specialists come from a variety of educational backgrounds.  They are often experienced educators who have taken one or more specialized courses on helping children learn how to read.  It is best to find a specialist who has learned more than one approach, since no single technique will help every child.

Sometimes, a child who reads with difficulty never learned to read properly.  Such a child may need to be taught the letters, vowels, and blending from scratch rather than focusing on specific weaknesses.  This may be discovered even with students in middle to upper grades.

Reading specialists charge from $40 to $80 for a 30 to 45-minute session and there should be at least two sessions per week.  In the long run the expense is worthwhile, since solving reading problems early allows a child to succeed in elementary school and may save the family expensive tutoring later.  Parents who cannot afford it may have the specialist assess their child and recommend exercises and teaching materials.  Either the parents or a less expensive tutor might follow through, with the specialist re-evaluating periodically.

Since reading remediation methods are so diverse, it may be necessary to try different specialists until the right approach is found for one’s child.

Other Interventions

Parents and reading specialists have found vision therapy, administered by some optometrists to be helpful for children with convergence and focusing problems.  These children typically have difficulty keeping their place when reading: lines of text run into each other.  They may also find reading to be tiring or that it leads to headaches.

Prism glasses have also been found effective to treat dyslexia associated with difficulty recognizing lettersm, although this is not a conventional use for this eyewear.

Working on vestibular system issues (sense of balance) with an occupational therapist also has been found to help with reading.

In general, professionals are helpful in finding the effective non-mainstream interventions.

Junior High

The junior high school years are an important window of opportunity to solve longstanding problems.  Children are more mature and able to work with a wider variety of literacy education approaches.

For boys, kriya issues are likely to be noticed as Bar Mitzva approaches.  This period is the peak motivation time for boys to improve their kriya.  If their son seems to take this seriously, parents may wish to focus Bar Mitzva preparation on leining rather than on making a siyum so that the boy is not distracted from mastering kriya.

Living with Literacy Challenges

While a child’s reading will almost always benefit from intervention and practice, not every reading problem can be solved in childhood or solved at all.  This puts the onus on parents to help their child develop successfully despite a reading or kriya handicap.

Some tips:

• Don’t treat this child any different from the others; don’t focus on the reading issue unless actually working on it.
• Memorize the necessary parts of davening
• Prepare ahead the upcoming material: psukim, meforshim, mishnayos, gemara, etc.
• Concentrate on comprehension – build on the strengths, even while continuing to work on improving the reading.
• Don’t give up. Sometimes, older children (or even adults) who had no success with intervention when they were young will progress rapidly when they are older and given a new chance at serious intervention.