Can Reading Struggles Be Prevented? What Every Parent of a Young Learner Needs to Know
By Catherine Mitchell, Certified Dyslexia Specialist | Blossoming Skills Reading Therapy | Fort Worth, TX | dyslexiaspecialisttx.com
Yes, for most children, reading struggles are entirely preventable.
I am Catherine Mitchell, a certified dyslexia specialist and the owner of Blossoming Skills Reading Therapy here in Fort Worth, Texas. After spending more than a decade teaching special education in public schools, I can tell you with absolute confidence that the reading difficulties I watched children develop were rarely inevitable.
In most cases, those struggles were the direct product of a few specific instructional decisions made in kindergarten and first grade. It usually comes down to how phonemic awareness was introduced, how letter names and sounds were connected, and how high-frequency words were taught.
If we get those three elements right from the very beginning by using a speech-to-print approach grounded in the Science of Reading, we can dramatically reduce the odds that a child will ever struggle to read.
Reading difficulties are not a foregone conclusion
Research consistently shows that with the correct early instruction, the vast majority of children who would otherwise struggle can be spared that experience entirely.
To look at the full picture honestly, roughly 15 to 20 percent of children have neurological dyslexia. These children will need specialized, structured literacy support regardless of how well they are initially taught in a mainstream classroom. But even for them, receiving the correct instruction early means earlier identification and a much smaller gap to close later on.
As for the other 80 to 85 percent of struggling readers? They are simply receiving instruction that does not align with how the human brain actually learns to decode language. For these children, prevention is absolutely possible.
The Critical Window: Kindergarten and First Grade
This is the exact window when the brain actively builds the phonological-orthographic pathway, which is the vital connection between the spoken sounds of language and the written symbols that represent them. What happens in these early years shapes everything that follows, far beyond third-grade standardized reading scores.
The foundation either gets laid correctly right out of the gate, or it develops quiet gaps that compound over time. Parents often do not see the cracks until a child hits second or third grade and suddenly falls behind, even though the root problem started years earlier.
A Personal and Professional Perspective
The difference in these two trajectories is something I have watched up close, including within my own family. My son is 19 years younger than my daughter, who has severe dyslexia. Knowing what I know now, I started building his phonemic foundation when he was just two years old. We did not use flashcards or formal lessons; we just played simple games.
We would play I Spy in the car, identifying the individual sounds inside words. He learned early on that the word "truck" starts with the sound /tr/, not /chr/, which is a distinction many children miss entirely because no one has trained their ear to notice it. By age three, we were mapping those oral sounds to physical letter tiles. Because his sound-to-print mapping was incredibly strong before formal schooling even began, he never struggled to learn to read. He already had the engine built.
I saw this same momentum with a three-year-old boy in my private practice. His family had a strong genetic history of dyslexia on both sides, and his mother wanted to build a resilient foundation before he entered a mainstream classroom. By the end of our 12 weeks together, he was mapping words, understanding how spoken sounds correspond to written symbols, and identifying individual sounds in his everyday speech. That specific skill, hearing the tiny sounds inside your own spoken words, is exactly what dyslexic children struggle with for years in school. We built that skill at age three through play.
The Problem with Teaching Letter Names First
Most children arrive at kindergarten knowing at least some letter names, which is a wonderful head start. The issue is what happens next in typical classrooms: letter names are often emphasized without being immediately and explicitly connected to the actual sounds those letters represent.
Think about what it means for a child to know that a letter is called "Bee," but not know that it says /b/. They have learned a name for a symbol, but they have not learned a functional reading tool. That child cannot use the letter name to decode a word because decoding requires the sound, and the name does not provide it.
In fact, letter names can actively mislead a young reader:
The name "aitch" for the letter H contains no /h/ sound at all.
The name "doubleyoo" for the letter W does not obviously produce the /w/ sound.
When children try to use letter names to decode text, they end up frustrated, confused, and forced to guess.
The educational research of Timothy Shanahan, building on work by Piasta and others, suggests that for typically developing children, teaching letter names and sounds simultaneously with an explicit bridge between them produces the strongest outcomes. The name provides visual stability, while the sound provides the actual reading function. For many children, this blended approach works well.
However, in my clinical experience working with children who have speech delays, apraxia, language processing differences, or significant phonological weaknesses, this simultaneous combination causes immediate cognitive overload. When a child is still working hard to solidify their foundational sound system, adding letter names splits their limited attention between two distinct concepts before either has become automatic. For these children, I always prioritize the sounds first. We build a stable phonological foundation until they can identify, segment, and manipulate sounds with confidence. Letter names come later, once the reading foundation is secure. The sounds are the engine; the names are just the label.
(For a deeper look at this approach, you can read my full comparison guide: Speech-to-Print vs. Orton-Gillingham: What's the Difference?
The Trap of Treating High-Frequency Words as Visual Memorization
Sight word flashcards are everywhere. They are sent home in kindergarten folders, packed into homework packets, and stacked on kitchen counters. The traditional assumption behind them is that high-frequency words like "the," "said," and "was" are completely irregular and impossible to sound out, meaning children have no choice but to memorize them as visual shapes.
This completely contradicts how the human brain stores words.
Dr. Linnea Ehri’s foundational research on orthographic mapping proves that words enter our long-term memory through a specific process: the brain bonds the word's spelling to its pronunciation at the phoneme level. The human brain is fundamentally a sound-processing organ, not a visual shape-memorizer. When it encounters a written word, it processes the letters by connecting each one to the spoken sound it represents. It is through these sound-symbol bonds that the word gets permanently stored for instant retrieval. Rote visual repetition completely bypasses this mechanism. This is exactly why a child can successfully identify a sight word on a flashcard on Tuesday, yet completely fail to read that same word inside a sentence two weeks later.
Furthermore, many words on these lists are not nearly as irregular as they look. The word "said" appears odd, but once a child is taught that the letter team AI can represent the short /e/ sound, "said" maps perfectly as /s/ /e/ /d/.
A landmark study released by NWEA confirms that teaching words as visual wholes is far less effective than teaching letter-sound correspondences. Children who are taught to look closely at the individual parts of a word, noticing which letters correspond to which sounds, read and spell those words with much greater permanence and reliability.
A Better Approach: Mapping the Sounds
Instead of flashcards, we need to map the sounds. Say the word aloud, point to the letters, and connect them explicitly. If a word truly has an irregular part, point to that specific piece and teach it as the "heart" part of the word, the small piece they need to learn by heart, while still phonemically mapping the rest of the word. This is what structured literacy actually looks like in practice.
Sound walls are another excellent tool for this. A sound wall organizes words by the actual speech sounds they represent, which mirrors the brain's natural phonological reference system. On the other hand, a traditional word wall organized alphabetically by letter name reinforces name knowledge but fails to build the phonological pathway required for reading text. Literacy research strongly supports shifting to sound walls in early childhood classrooms as one of the most practical upgrades a school can make.
What True Phonemic Awareness Looks Like
Phonemic awareness is the ability to hear and manipulate the individual sounds, called phonemes, in spoken words. This process takes place entirely in the oral domain, completely out loud, before any print or letters are involved. Researchers have identified it as the single strongest predictor of later reading success, carrying far more weight than letter recognition, vocabulary, or simple reading exposure.
In everyday practice, oral phonemic awareness looks like:
Blending: Hearing someone say the separated sounds /d/ /o/ /g/ and knowing they come together to make the word "dog."
Segmenting: Listening to the word "ship" and identifying /sh/, /i/, and /p/ as the three distinct sounds inside it.
Manipulating: Asking a child, "Say 'cat.' Now change the /k/ to a /b/. What word do you get?" A child with strong phonemic awareness will answer "bat" instantly.
None of this requires a pencil, a paper, or a screen. It is entirely about training the ear to process language at the level of individual sounds.
Phonemic vs. Phonological Awareness
It is common to confuse phonemic awareness with phonological awareness, but they are not the same. Phonological awareness is a broad umbrella category that covers larger chunks of language, like rhyming and counting syllables. Phonemic awareness is the narrowest, most critical part of that umbrella, focusing strictly on individual phonemes.
Research from the International Dyslexia Association makes it clear that programs focusing immediately on phoneme-level work, coordinated directly with letter knowledge, are what successfully build the alphabetic principle. Spending weeks or months mastering rhyming before ever touching individual phonemes is an outdated and unnecessary developmental sequence. Rhyming is a fun language game, but it does not build the core reading engine.
With young children, this work should be entirely oral, fast-paced, and playful. We should be listening, saying, clapping, and tapping sounds in real words rather than staring at worksheets. By the time we eventually introduce printed letters, the child's internal sound system is already doing its job seamlessly.
Red Flags to Watch for in Kindergarten and First Grade
These indicators are not definitive proof of dyslexia, but they are strong warning signs that your child's classroom instruction may not be building the right foundation. Watch closely if your child exhibits any of the following:
Struggling to Blend Sounds Out Loud: Being unable to push oral sounds together into a cohesive word, such as hearing /k/ /a/ /t/ but being unable to say "cat," even after explicit instruction.
Knowing Names but Not Sounds: Demonstrating fluent letter-name knowledge but having zero awareness of what actual sounds those letters make when reading.
The Picture-Guessing Habit: Confidently guessing words based on illustrations or the context of the page rather than attempting to physically decode the printed letters.
Rote Flashcard Overload: Bringing home long sight word lists to memorize as flat visual shapes with no emphasis on phonics or sound-mapping.
The Three-Cueing Strategy: Being explicitly prompted by a teacher or a school worksheet to look at an unfamiliar word and ask, "Does it look right? Does it sound right? Does it make sense?" This cueing strategy actively trains children to use the habits of struggling readers and signals that the classroom is not using structured literacy.
Questions to Ask at Your Next Teacher Conference
If you are noticing these red flags at home, bring these direct questions to your next parent-teacher meeting:
What phonics curriculum do you use, and is it fully systematic and explicit?
How are high-frequency words taught in this classroom? Do the children map the sounds to the letters, or are they expected to memorize them as whole visual shapes?
What specific phonemic awareness work are the children doing out loud, separate from reading connected text?
The answers to these questions will give you a very clear picture of what your child is receiving and exactly what gaps might be forming.
The Elements of Correct Early Instruction
When early reading instruction aligns perfectly with the Science of Reading, it utilizes a speech-to-print approach that follows a logical, natural sequence:
Begin with Sound: Daily, playful, and systematic oral phonemic awareness work right from the start.
Connect to Symbol: Introducing letter names and sounds together with an explicit bridge so children understand from day one that letters are simply symbols that hold sounds, and sounds are how we decode words.
Map Every Word: High-frequency words are mapped phonemically by looking at their parts, never memorized as flat visual outlines.
Practice with Decodable Text: Providing reading practice using meaningful, phonically controlled decodable books rather than leveled readers that rely on context clues or picture guessing. This ensures every reading session actively strengthens the brain's phonological pathway.
Regular diagnostic assessment belongs in this picture, too. We need to identify exactly where a child's foundation is solid and where gaps are forming before those gaps compound, rather than taking a "wait and see" approach until a child falls visibly behind.
What to Do If You Are Concerned About Your Young Learner
If you have read this far, you are already the kind of parent who is paying close attention. You are watching your child carefully, asking the right questions, and taking early warning signs seriously. That attentiveness is incredibly powerful.
My best advice to you right now is simple: ask direct questions of your child's teacher, watch closely for the red flags listed above, and do not wait for the school to officially tell you there is a problem. Public schools operate under real, bureaucratic limitations regarding what they can flag and when they can intervene.
"Wait and see" is the most expensive approach a family can take when it comes to reading development. Too often, waiting simply leads to the illusion of school dyslexia graduation, where children are pushed through standard accommodations without ever truly fixing their underlying sound processing skills. You can read a deeper breakdown of how this systemic issue impacts our local community in my previous article: DFW Schools Shifted Their Reading Instruction Years Ago. So Why Are Our Kids Still Stuck?
Prevention is always faster, lighter, and more effective than remediation. But if prevention is no longer an option for your child, early intervention is the next best path.
How We Support Families at Blossoming Skills Reading Therapy
At Blossoming Skills Reading Therapy, I work with children starting at age six. As a virtual dyslexia specialist, I serve families across Texas and beyond through a research-backed, 12-week reading intervention program that comes with a full grade-level guarantee. My evaluation process identifies exactly where the foundational gaps live, showing us not just what a child can or cannot read, but precisely why, and what specific skills need to be targeted to change their academic trajectory.
For Local DFW Families: For children under the age of six, direct virtual instruction is rarely the right fit. Young children simply are not developmentally built to sit and benefit from Zoom-based therapy sessions. For local families in the Fort Worth area, I make special arrangements for in-person sessions tailored to this younger age bracket.
For Families Across Texas and Nationwide: If you live outside the immediate DFW area with a child under six, I offer virtual parent training. This program equips you with the exact tools, games, and knowledge you need to build that vital phonemic foundation at home through everyday play. You become the confident deliverer of the instruction, and I provide the professional roadmap to ensure you do it flawlessly.
No matter how old your child is right now, the human brain retains an incredible ability to rewire itself and build the reading pathways it needs. Earlier is always easier, but right now is always the right time to start.
If you are ready to find out exactly where your child’s foundational skills stand, let's talk. You can book a free Clarity Call directly at dyslexiaspecialisttx.com so we can figure out the right next step for your family together.
Sources and References:
Ehri, L.C. — Orthographic mapping: How words are stored in long-term memory through phoneme-level spelling-to-sound bonding.
Shanahan, T. — Research and analysis on the effectiveness of simultaneous letter name and sound instruction.
International Dyslexia Association (IDA) — Clinical guidance on phoneme awareness, the alphabetic principle, and early literacy intervention.
NWEA — Comparative studies on whole-word visual instruction versus letter-sound correspondence in early childhood.
Reading Rockets — Field research regarding the implementation of sound walls versus traditional alphabetic word walls in early classrooms.
