Struggling readers have a number of barriers to their success that can be overcome if they are properly understood and addressed. Left unchecked, these barriers can grow into an unmanageable weight for both the student and the educators who are trying to help them.
1. The Experience Struggle
Ten chances to one, a struggling reader will not have much book experience. There is a great disparity in the amount of book experience children entering kindergarten have: some have none; some have well over 1000 hours of quality book experience with their parents. Children with no book experience enter kindergarten without such simple knowledge as where the book begins, what direction the text is supposed to be read, and where the book ends. Children without book experience probably don’t have parents who read, and they don’t see reading as being an everyday activity that is done for enjoyment. As time goes by, the difference in the amount of book experience a struggling reader has and his or her peers have increases.
Solution: A lot of book experience before, during, and after school. This is easier said than done because resource people including the...