Your child isn’t reading at grade level and hates to practice. It is human nature–no one likes to practice things they aren’t good at and don’t know how to do.  Practice alone is not the solution.  To get better at any skill you need someone to train you and coach you to ensure you are practicing correctly.

In the primary grades children learn to read. Starting in Grade 4, children read to learn. Your child must develop the skill of reading at or above grade level in order to succeed in school and in life.

Reasons for reading problems:

There are several things to look at in order to determine why your child struggles with reading:

Does your child possess the physical and/or mental ability to learn the skill?

If your child is blind, is deaf, has a very low IQ, needs glasses, or has tracking or other visual issues, this is more than just a reading problem. We have worked with many children with intellectual disabilities who have been able to learn to read fluently. We are even very successful with strengthening and training the eyes when tracking or other vision problems are part of the cause.

Has your child actually been taught how to read?

This may seem like a silly question but we see it all the time. Not all primary teachers believe that reading needs to be taught or that they should be the ones to do it. Many others don’t know how to teach reading, especially with children who don’t take to it as quickly as others. Reading is a human invention and needs to be taught.

Has your child been over-taught?

Some kids have had so much reading instruction, often from several people, that they can’t possibly remember all the rules, exceptions, tricks, and strategies. These can be the toughest kids to help but with new technologies and scientifically designed methods at our disposal, we are helping these kids put it all together.

Does your child have Phonological Processing Deficits?

If you’ve eliminated the previous points as the cause of the problem, there is a 99% likelihood that the root cause is that your child’s brain does not processes the sounds within words as efficiently as is necessary for learning to read.  This is a trainable skill and we use the world’s best programs for doing this.

Does your child have Auditory Processing Deficits or Disorder?

Not only does your child struggle with reading but with listening also.  (It may look like an attention problem.)  How do you learn if you can’t process what the teacher is saying and you can’t read?  Most of our programs are fantastic for helping kids with APD.

Solutions to reading problems

We use a variety of programs to address reading problems.  They range from teaching reading to kids who’ve never been taught, using alternative methods to train kids who’ve been over-taught, and using computer programs and specific methods for overcoming visual processing, phonological processing, and auditory processing deficits.

Assessment

To begin, our initial assessment helps determine what is causing the reading problems and what is necessary to get your child reading successfully.

Phone 604.539.1386 to book an assessment.