Confessions of a Reading Consultant
As a parent and a professional I subscribe to a lot of blogs. The experts and authors get traction analyzing reading programs. Mostly all kids with reading difficulties need explicit structured literacy programs. They need highly trained experts to teach them, too. But I hate that these programs are the only ones deemed to work. I hate that we throw in the towel on programs. We criticize whole language methods. We criticize balanced literacy. We criticize other literature based reading programs and other strategies.
The truth is any program or strategy may work for your kid. The kid’s strengths, weaknesses, and what they respond to is the measure of what works. It is not what some literacy expert deems as a good program it is what your kid responds too. It is not what some teacher has training in. It is what your kid responds too.
We need to look at this more holistically because reading programs are tested on batches of kids in some part of the country. We don’t know if that sample of kids loves sports. If they have a district that bought quality programs. If the kids feel embarrassed by being pulled out of class. If they think flash card decks are babyish. If they respond better to technology based literacy.
I have seen kids make it through the 12 step literacy program and hate to read. I have seen kids develop a huge vocabulary gap by only being exposed to controlled readers. I have seen kids decode like a college student but comprehend the text like a 4th grader. I have seen kids that love science be pulled out of every science class. A structured literacy program does work but it has to be flexible. It has to leave room for kids to enjoy reading.
My suggestion to parents is listen to your kids, look at their strengths, and interests. Understand that what works one year may not work the next year. Pay close attention to how well they are doing in any literacy program. These programs should be taught with fidelity but have to be individualized to your kid too.