The Reality of Providing Effective Reading Instruction

Written By Lori Herrick

When helping a struggling reader, unless you have been doing it for sometime, you may be taken by surprise at the level of difficulty the student is experiencing. For some students, learning to read comes without too much of a challenge; Phonemic awareness, phonics, word recognition, fluency, and comprehension skills progress almost effortlessly, with proven phonic-based instruction and practice. Many students, however, will have a more difficult time absorbing some or all of these crucial reading components. 

The level of difficulty a student experiences will vary as greatly as its causes- Dyslexia, learning disabilities, cognitive delays, memory weaknesses, attention deficits, auditory and visual processing disorders, speech-related processing and articulation difficulties, hearing impairments, visual impairments, sensory dysregulation, and mental health challenges are just some of the possible learning obstacles. Other factors to consider include lack of effective instruction, poverty issues, cultural and language barriers, traumatic brain injury, and lack of conversational support from caregivers during crucial developmental years. Add in the known difficulty of the English language and it becomes apparent as to how complicated and challenging it can be for many students to achieve reading proficiency. Students who experience difficulty with reading may have just one, or many of the above factors present. (See resources below)

The science of reading has come to the forefront of policy and has been put into practice in many U.S. schools. This is a huge step forward in holding schools accountable for delivering high quality reading instruction to all students. While I whole-heartedly agree with the research and implementation of proven reading methods, there are more issues that need to be addressed. For example, in my experience, we sometimes generalize and either “over-assess” or “under-assess” students when it comes to following protocols and progress monitoring guidelines. While I agree that comprehensive assessments can be valuable tools for understanding why a student is struggling and to guide instruction, not all assessments are appropriate or beneficial to helping the student. Assessments should be comprehensive but also individualized to best address the needs of the student. We essentially need to know three things:

  1. Can the student sound out words, and if not where are the gaps?

  2. Is the student mastering and retaining information?

  3. Is the student building fluency and comprehension skills?

Schools are still over-generalizing the needs of struggling readers, and using a one size fits all approach, leaving many students behind. We should assess how instruction is working for each individual student, and pivot as necessary to incorporate additional, more intensive strategies, or to help students advance at either a faster or slower rate.

An effective reading program is designed to mitigate most reading challenges, and is flexible enough to target areas of weakness and strengthen each pillar of reading instruction. While there are many excellent reading methods and programs available, which are based on the science of reading, not all are designed to work for students with specific and more comprehensive needs. If a student isn’t showing progress after a few months worth of lessons, it is time to regroup and re-evaluate the instructional plan. This is true no matter what curriculum or method is being used. Reading instruction, in my opinion, is as much of an art as it is a science!


Scarborough’s Reading Rope, by Hollis S. Scarborough, (see below)  is an excellent visual which explains each vital component for reading success, and how they must be woven together in order to create a solid foundation from which students can continue to progress and become highly literate individuals. Stevenson Language Skills builds this foundation by providing a science-based, sequential, explicit, multi-sensory curriculum that is effective even for some of the most challenging reading problems. This is because of the unique sequence and mnemonic based approach that is woven into each lesson, further strengthening each strand of the rope.

Science of Reading Visual of the reading rope

Reading Rope

Lori Herrick
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The Need to Read