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Fredericksburg Parent & Family

The Magic of Phonics

May 03, 2024 10:14AM ● By Mary Follin

If you’re the parent of a struggling reader, you might be feeling anxious about it. Reading is critical for performing well in school (and in life!), and as you watch your child struggle, you’re probably asking yourself: “What can I do before it’s too late?”

I would encourage you to start with a series of checkups—eyes, ability to focus, learning challenges, and overall health. Some of these issues may be inhibiting your child’s ability to learn and may need to be addressed before your child can move forward.

The next best thing to do is make sure your child has been taught to read with a direct-instruction, phonics-based approach.

If your child hasn’t learned how to read with phonics, that’s good news. You may have already identified the problem, just by knowing this. And thankfully, phonics is easy to teach and easy to learn; even some non-reading adults can quickly learn to read once they’ve been taught the code of the English language.

So, what’s the deal with phonics? Keep reading to explore why it’s easier to teach struggling readers with this seemingly ‘magical’ approach!

BUT WAIT. SHOULDN’T MY CHILD BE LEARNING PHONICS IN SCHOOL?

If you live in Virginia, the short answer is ‘yes.’ But the directive to teach reading with a systematic phonics-based approach has only been recently mandated by the state of Virginia, so if your child is in first grade (or beyond), it’s possible they didn’t receive this type of instruction in school.

As Virginia school systems transition to placing a stronger emphasis on phonics (among other things), be aware that your older student may not have been exposed to these critical decoding skills in the earlier grades.

So how can you tell if your child knows—and uses—phonics?

The easiest way to find out is to ask. Talk to your child’s teacher and other parents at your child’s school. Most schools in Virginia are in the process of switching to phonics-based programs, but until the new programs are officially in place, each school (and sometimes teacher!) is in the process of transitioning from the old to the new in a variety of ways.

You can also observe what happens when your struggling reader gets stuck on a simple word. Do they try to sound it out or can they only guess at what the word might be? What about harder words?

Phonetic readers rely heavily on sounding out words they don’t know and can actually sound out nonsense words, simply because they know the code. In fact, unfamiliar words often look like nonsense words but become recognizable as your child begins to sound them out. If you’ve determined your struggling reader does not have the ability to decode words with phonics, immediately seek help from your child’s teacher or resident reading specialist, hire a tutor, or teach your child phonics at home.

According to Literacy Support Specialist for Caroline County Public Schools Vanessa Sekinger, M.Ed., no matter how old a student is, if they’re unable to decode words, they need to start at the very beginning—learning to associate letters with sounds. (For more specific guidance on where to begin phonics instruction, Ms. Sekinger recommends you engage a reading specialist to conduct a phonics assessment on your child.)

Ms. Sekinger also encourages parents to become familiar with what’s happening in Virginia schools, starting with the Virginia Literacy Act (VLA), which describes how Virginia is incorporating an entirely restructured literacy program into school systems statewide.

“I’m very excited to be part of it,” Ms. Sekinger says. “And we’re already seeing many of the changes adopted in school systems ahead of schedule.” She also encourages parents to read with their children: “trade reading with them, listen to audio, read along with audio—surround them with words, words, words!”

WHY IS PHONICS SO CRITICAL FOR STRUGGLING READERS?

Phonics-based instruction teaches struggling readers how to ‘crack the code’ of the English language by revealing the mysterious (at least to your child!) connection between letters and sounds. By mastering these letter-sound combinations and learning the rules, your child will be better equipped to sound out almost every word they come across, no matter how complex or unfamiliar.

For struggling readers, phonics can be a game-changer. Armed with the knowledge of phonetic sounds, patterns, and rules, instead of guessing or getting frustrated, your child will acquire a new ability to sound out words—easy words, hard words, and words they’ve never seen before.

SMOOTH SAILING WITH READING FLUENCY

Phonics is also the tool people use to read fluently. Without an understanding of phonics, struggling readers often have difficulty reading full sentences smoothly enough to comprehend them.

Once your child knows letter patterns and sounds, reading becomes much easier. Rather than stumbling over every other word, your child can focus on the story and actually enjoy it; reading will feel less like a chore and more like something fun to do. 

​Children who learn to read more fluently will also be able to apply what they’ve read, whether it’s how to proceed on a math test, follow a recipe, or play a new board game.

BIGGER WORDS AND VOCABULARY EXPANSION

Imagine you’re in another part of the world, and you only know a handful of words. Confusing, right? Well, that’s how struggling readers feel when they can only read some of the words on a page or in a story. Learning phonics will expand your child’s vocabulary and create a richer experience for them every time they sit down to read. 

Phonetic readers have a habit of analyzing words, often without even knowing it. They develop a natural ability to recognize patterns and figure out word meanings based on prefixes, suffixes, roots, and similarity to other words. As your child becomes more proficient at reading phonetically, you’ll notice an increase in their vocabulary—even when speaking.

Suddenly, your previously struggling reader will have more words at their disposal, and the world of reading (and talking!) becomes much more colorful and exciting.

As an added bonus, when struggling readers grasp the relationship between letters and sounds, spelling becomes a lot easier, too. Think about it – if you know how to say a word, shouldn’t you know how to spell it? By breaking down words into their phonetic components, your child will be able to piece together the right combination of letters.

One side note: if your child never becomes a great speller, don’t worry about it. That’s where spellcheck comes in handy. 

BOOSTING CONFIDENCE AND SPARKING MOTIVATION IN STRUGGLING READERS

If you’ve ever struggled with anything to the point of wanting to quit, you can understand how your child feels. By introducing phonics, you’re offering your struggling reader a large dose of confidence, stress relief, and the motivation to learn how to become a better reader.

As your struggling reader learns to read with phonics, they’ll experience small wins along the way; each word they decode becomes a victory. And with every triumph, your child’s confidence grows. Once a struggling reader learns the code, the transformation is often very fast, especially if they’ve never had explicit phonics instruction before.

Phonics cracks the reading code, smooths out fluency, expands vocabulary, improves spelling, and boosts confidence. If your child is one of the thousands of struggling readers out there, phonics is like having a reading coach that makes learning a fun and magical adventure rather than a tedious uphill climb.

 

Mary Follin is the author of Teach Your Child to Read™ and ETHYR, winner of the Moonbeam Children's Book Award and the Gertrude Warner Book Award. She is mom to two grown sons and enjoys sharing her more seasoned perspective  with parents of younger children. 

 

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