How to Help Your Child Advance Reading Levels

Use these tips to improve their reading skills and set them up for success.

Research indicates that students with proficient or advanced reading skills are more likely to succeed in academics, graduate high school, and attend college than their peers. If your child struggles to read at his or her grade level, it may be time to deploy additional learning strategies. Get your child on the right track with these tips to help them advance reading levels:

• Communicate with the school
• Focus on decoding skills
• Add a few minutes to daily reading time
• Read aloud together
• Sprinkle in fun
• Find the right story

Learn more about these tips to help your child advance reading levels below.

Communicate with the school

If reading is a struggle for your child, meet with their teacher or guidance counselor to express your concerns. As a team, you can explore options for extra help in the classroom, discuss supplementary reading strategies, and receive suggestions for what you can do at home to help your child advance reading levels.

Focus on decoding skills

Work with your child on decoding skills for reading unfamiliar words. Flashcards may be a helpful tool to use together until your child recognizes the blends or letters in isolation. You can also practice common “sight” words that don’t follow the standard decoding patterns and phonetics rules, such as enough, sign, and right.

Add a few minutes to daily reading time

With just a little extra reading practice, your child can develop more skills and confidence. According to an annual study of K-12 student reading habits, adding just a few minutes of reading time each day made the difference. Struggling students read only six more minutes each day than their peers, helping them end the year at or above the benchmark. On average, aim for 30 minutes or more of reading per day to help your child advance to the next level.

Read aloud together

Children struggling with reading may benefit from hearing words read out loud. Try incorporating a daily read-aloud session at home so your child can focus on pronunciation, fluency, and comprehension of a story. Depending on your child’s reading level, you may also want to take turns reading each page or chapter.

Sprinkle in fun

If you struggle getting your child to read or if they give up half-way through, consider incorporating some of these ways to make reading fun into your routine. Acting out a character, reading in a tent, and using a helpful reading tool for kids like the Toobaloo can engage your child and help them enhance their competencies.

Find the right story

The next time you and your child chooses books, ask a librarian, reading specialist, or teacher for help. Books most likely to help them advance reading levels will be ones that your child is interested in and can read with about 95% accuracy the first time. By focusing on books that fit your child’s current skills, they can practice frustration-free fluency and comprehension as they discover the joy of reading.

These reading strategies may help your child improve their comprehension skills and advance reading levels. For more tools and tips for both parents and teachers, continue reading our blog.

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