Is teaching reading difficult? The answer is both yes and no. Teaching reading is a journey filled with challenges, but it is also the most rewarding experience a parent or teacher can have.

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Teaching Reading Involves Multiple Steps

For many children, reading comes easily and naturally. For others, the reading process might be difficult and confusing. Ultimately the steps for teaching reading apply to all learners.

1. Phonological Awareness – phonemes and sounds within words

2. Alphabetic Principle – letters and sounds of the alphabet

3. Reading Fluency – reading quickly with expression

4. Reading Comprehension – the ultimate goal of reading

Teachers must understand the science of reading and have a knowledge of how children learn to read.

Teaching Reading Involves Patience

Patience is key. It is about nurturing, not just teaching. It is about guiding each child through their reading journey, celebrating their successes, and supporting children through their struggles.

When teachers practice patience, they create a supportive learning environment where students feel excited  to learn. While teaching with patience is important, it is not always easy. Often students need to do things over and over again, with a lot of repetition. This involves patience for both the teacher and the student.

Teaching Reading Involves Multisensory Instruction

Using phonics and multisensory instruction plays an important role. Multisensory instruction involves using sight, sound, movement, and touch. This gives children more than one way to connect and learn the concepts. Multisensory instruction will require a  teacher to use a lot of hands-on learning strategies, such as visuals, maps, graphic organizers, songs, dance, role play, and art activities. While teaching reading with multisensory activities is fun and engaging for the student, it requires a lot of preparation for teachers.

When a teacher creates a learning environment that uses multisensory techniques, it gives all students the chance to learn, especially those students who need to learn differently. 

Teaching Reading Involves Using the Right Reading Program for Instruction

When teaching reading, teachers should have access to instructional material aligned with the science of reading and reading research.  With the right reading program, every child can become a confident reader. It’s not just about reading words on a page, but opening up a world of imagination, knowledge, and opportunity.

The Takeaway

So, is teaching reading difficult? It can be. But the joy of watching a child’s world expand through reading makes every challenge worth it.

To learn more about teaching reading, feel free to read our previous posts:

How Children Learn to Read: A Guide for Parents and Teachers

Reading Phonics Programs: Supporting Young Learners Through the Science of Reading

To discover how the PRIDE Reading Program can transform the reading journey for all learners, visit us at Pride Reading Program for more information:

The PRIDE Reading Program, a multisensory Orton-Gillingham reading, writing, and comprehension curriculum, is available worldwide for parents, tutors, teachers, and homeschoolers of struggling readers.  You can contact them by email at info@pridereadingprogram.com or visit the website at www.pridereadingprogram.com