Some students do not struggle with reading until they get to the upper grades. Why is this? Some kids could master reading when the words were not complex. But when words began to have three or more syllables, they begin to struggle.
LATE TO EMERGE READING DISABILITIES
Research conducted by the American Psychological Association, and published in the Journal of Educational Psychology, 2003, Vol. 95, No. 2, pp. 211-224 states that “mild and well-disguised reading difficulties may arise after fourth grade due to the increasing demands for greater accuracy and speed in decoding. Some children rely almost entirely on sight memorization of words, and thereby appear to be succeeding in learning to read for several years until this strategy becomes unwieldy. Even children who initially master decoding successfully, could nevertheless encounter difficulty when the words to be recognized and spelled become more phonologically and morphologically complex after the primary grades. When recognizing the words in connected texts is slow and effortful, fewer cognitive resources can be devoted to the high-level processes needed to attain an understanding of the text’s meaning.”
If your child is finding school more challenging, their standardized test assessment scores are decreasing, and both of you seem to be at a loss for why this is happening, take our reading symptom checklist and see if they could have mild dyslexia.
Its never too late to improve reading. Students reading at a fifth and sixth grade level will struggle in middle and high school science and language arts. Getting help now will make the difference in their grade point, and the college they choose. Give us a call if your child is struggling with reading. Take our symptom checklist. Your child is worth it!
