Importance of Age Appropriate Reading & Spelling

Reading and writing are two of those core skills which help build a strong foundation for a child’s education and also helps in strengthening the oral communication skills as well. Children have the capability to learn a lot of basic skills in an early age. Some children might start reading from age 6 onwards and some might still struggle to read and write even when in the 8th grade. Therefore, it is essential to assess their skills with the help of a professional.

The age factor plays an important role here. As the age increases a student must be able to read above a certain level. This level is also known as age appropriate reading. It is common for parents to have various questions like: When is the right time to start reading? My child is in 5th grade and is struggling to read and write what do I do? And many more such questions keep popping in parents’ head.

One must understand here that not all cases are similar and there is no general solution that will apply to everybody. However, with the help of scientifically proven assessment tests a professional can figure out a way to make things easier for your child. The world is moving at a rapid pace than ever before and you don’t want your child to fall back.

In this article we will discuss in depth about the importance of age appropriate reading and spelling and how it benefits in future to build a good life.

Why is it Important?

Children need to be fast learners in this paced era so that they don’t fall behind in their class. Learning to read can be a challenge for almost 40 percent of kids. Parents might not figure out the problem their children are facing and might decide to wait for a year or two to give their children some time. But, the older a child gets the more it becomes difficult to teach. Therefore, it is important for the parents to seek early professional help to solve most reading problems.

Children start giving signals about reading – whether it’s difficult for them – in various ways like through their speech, the way they respond to their parents, etc. These signals are not obvious and parents need to keep their eyes and ears open for the warning signs. According to their age, children have certain milestones that they must hit in every grade. If they can’t then there’s a problem.

Learning to read and write and getting better at it each year denotes positive signs of growth of your child. A child might find himself a misfit in a class where every other student can read and speak better than him. A struggling student will keep witnessing downfall in his educational career just by seeing his friends and classmates progress. Therefore, it is extremely important for parents to keep track of their children’s growth according to their age.

Common Errors in Reading and Spelling:

Observing a student while reading and noting down his mistakes can give lots of insights about what skills the student might lack. Some of the common errors in reading are:

Errors in Reading:

1. Whole Word Error: Here a student tries to read a word by visually recognizing the entire word. In English, there are numerous words that look similar due to the placement of alphabets in that particular word. For example, wild looks similar to would, pilgrim looks like program, when – then, empty – empathy, every – very, and many more. The student instead of processing the word phonetically processes it from the whole structure.
2. Tracking Error: In English, the reading pattern is from left to right. Many students don’t follow this pattern and just try to sound out the word. The sounds of such words appear similar but are out of order. Words like: on-no, tired-tried, lots-lost, etc. are some examples where a student can make tracking error.
3. Multisyllable Words: A student might easily and correctly read a shorter word but when it comes to a word with multi-syllable the he runs into a problem. Here a student might change or miss a part of the word, adding sounds inappropriately, and handling of longer words in general.

Errors in Spelling:

English spelling can be tricky but are not difficult. Here are some common errors in spelling students make:

1. Mistakes due to Homophones – A homophone is a word which sounds like other word but has a different spelling. Students commonly make this mistake and write a word with wrong spelling. Some examples of homophones are; their – there – they’re, to – too – two, break – brake, etc.
2. Longer Words – Students usually find it difficult to write a longer word. This is because they find it tough to break a word into syllables. Each word has a number of syllables and breaking a word into syllables makes it easy for it to be spelled. For example, fer-gu-son has three syllables, com-pu-ter has three syllables, and Mar-y has two syllables.
3. Silent Letters – There are many students who still make spelling mistakes because of the presence of silent alphabets in the spelling. For example, tsunami-sunami, write-rite, wrong-rong, etc.

Reasons of Errors

Reading is the key to spelling and writing. It expands a student’s vocabulary and helps him grow. Students face some difficulties in reading and writing. Some of the common difficulties are as follows:

• Decoding Issues – To read a word in whole it is important that a student first learns how to decode the word. We called it multi-syllable error. If the student is not able to decode the word and trying to just sound out the word then he will pronounce it wrong no matter what.
• Confusing Alphabets – Some alphabets look similar in the English language. This is where a student might get confused and spell the word incorrectly. Some examples of confusing alphabets are; b-d, m-n, p-q, etc.
• Speed – Some students prefer to just drop the words they can’t read and move forward. So when they read the whole sentence there are lot of empty spaces and the sentence doesn’t make any sense.

Professional Assessment

If as a parent you spot some incapability in your child it is advised that you seek professional help as early as possible. Professional counsellors assess the student’s by conducting various tests which lets them figure out what problem the student is facing, where he needs improvements, etc.

They use scientifically proven tests like Schonell spelling and reading test to evaluate the spelling and reading knowledge of a student. These tests are designed in a way that helps determine the exact cause of a student’s problem.

How can a Student Benefit?

Firstly, figuring out the type of spelling errors made can help him to focus on those particular areas and strengthen his skills. Learning to properly read further helps a student to write and spell the words correctly. Once the reading gets fluent the student can now expand his vocabulary by reading more books of different fields. This increases his knowledge of world. Overall, reading and writing skills strengthen the student’s future as he will be able to communicate easily with other people.

We at RMCC provide professional assistance and help your child to become a better reader. If you are confused about getting academic guidance just come and talk to us and we promise that you won’t be disappointed.