Dear Teacher: Reading Trouble

Beginning Reading Problem

When my child reads, she has trouble recognizing words that have short vowels.

For example, she might confuse let,

lot, and lit. She is in first grade. Is this a common problem?

— Reading Problem

Having problems with short vowel sounds is not unusual for beginning readers. Not knowing the short vowel sounds can make spelling difficult, too. Here’s why: Consonant sounds are generally sounded out easily, as they are largely crisp, clear sounds. On the other hand, there are small differences between how short vowels are said.

The word family approach can make learning the short vowel sounds easier. For example, the “an” family teaches the short “a” sound as different consonants are placed in front of it to produce van, man, tan, and can.

We have developed 126 short word family stories with games called Skinny Books that will help your child learn short vowel sounds and to read hundreds of words. You can find out more about them on the Dear Teacher website.

Is My Child’s Reading Problem an Eye Problem?

I just read the parent letter sent to you about a second grader’s choppy reading. This sounded exactly like what my son experienced. The school reading intervention program did not result in improvements, so I took him to a pediatric ophthalmologist who determined that he had an ocular misalignment.

One of his eyes didn’t immediately focus on the word, so he had to look at each word until it came into focus. The problem was easily fixed within 90 days at no cost with daily vision exercises. Please get back to this parent and recommend an eye exam with a pediatric ophthalmologist (non-pediatric ophthalmologists may miss the problem). Our doctor told us that if this is not addressed at an early age, it is irreversible.

— Solution Found

Whenever a young child has a reading problem, both eyes and ears should definitely be checked out. Thanks for the good advice for our readers. However, keep in mind that most reading problems are not caused by a medical problem.

Choppy reading in second grade can occur because students did not learn their basic phonics and sufficient sight words in first grade, or due to a fluency problem. Improving reading fluency is a big part of the language-arts process. Not only does it improve comprehension, it also makes children confident oral readers in the classroom. Plus, fluency is one skill that is relatively simple to improve in students who don’t have serious reading or communication disorders.

Parents should send questions and comments to dearteacher@dearteacher.com or to the Dear Teacher website.