Building the Reading Brain: How Parents and Teachers Can Prevent Reading Failure

This article was contributed by Julia Brink D'Onofrio '05, M.Ed. '10 in the spring issue of The Magazine of Gordon College. 

Reading proficiency in our nation is very low. According to the National Assessment of Educational Progress, in 2024 only 31% of fourth-grade students in America could read at or above a proficient level, and even in highly educated Massachusetts, that number is only 40%. 

You might be hearing these statistics for the first time, or perhaps you’re tired of hearing the discouraging reports and statistics that pour in from the media about our educational system. If you are a parent, guardian, grandparent, or caregiver, it’s easy to feel overwhelmed by information about reading failure in the United States. You might also feel uncertain about what steps you can take to lower the risk of your child becoming part of these discouraging statistics. 

Even more likely, you try reading to your child, but are still left wondering, “Is this all I can do? Is reading failure preventable for the children in my life?” 

The good news

Yes, reading failure can be prevented! In 1998, Dr. Joseph Torgesen synthesized research from the field of reading science in his groundbreaking article, “Catch Them Before They Fall:Identification and Assessment to Prevent Reading Failure in Young Children.” 

Torgesen found that children who fall behind in literacy skills by the end of first grade rarely catch up to their peers. And while later research has continued to confirm these findings, it has also shown that targeted, evidence-based instruction can significantly reduce the risk of reading failure. 

Reading research points to three key predictors of early reading success: letter knowledge, concepts of print, and the segmentation of sounds. Effective instruction in kindergarten through second grade must focus on building these foundational skills. So what exactly are they? 

Letter knowledge refers to a student’s ability to accurately and automatically name uppercase and lowercase letters. This skill is more challenging than most adults realize. Children are born with a visual system that ignores positionality, which is crucial for identifying letters. A lowercase “b” is different from a lowercase “p,” yet their shapes match. When students begin connecting letters and sounds, misidentification could lead to very different meanings, such as big vs. pig. Young children need to learn to pay close attention to letter shapes, connect them to their names, and learn to attach a sound to the corresponding letter shape. This marks the beginning of phonics instruction. 

The second key predictor of reading success is understanding concepts about print—both the form and function of print. In English, print is read from left to right, top to bottom. Children learn how to hold and manipulate a book. They learn that the words tell the story, not just the pictures. And while these simple concepts are often taught through reading books out loud before students even enter school, they must be taught explicitly so that students can succeed as readers. 

The third predictor is the ability to segment or separate sounds in spoken language. Written language is essentially spoken language on paper. Children must first be able to identify sounds in spoken language before representing them in text. Students practice segmenting sounds by starting with the identification of the first sound in a word, then the last sound, and finally the middle sound in a three-letter word such as “cat.” 

The science of reading 

Unlike language acquisition, reading is not a skill that is naturally learned. Children learn to speak by speaking and being exposed to language in their environment, but they do not learn to read by reading and exposure to print. This idea is central to the “reading wars.” 

Prominent educational leaders used to believe that literacy could be learned naturally. Educators were expected to expose children to literature and foster a passion and love for reading. Many curriculum materials, teacher preparation programs, and textbooks are still built on this belief.

This idea took hold in US education before brain imaging and eye movement studies were conducted. The science of reading is a vast, interdisciplinary body of research spanning cultures and languages for over five decades. Scientists have learned that our brains aren’t naturally wired for reading and writing. In fact, the brain “recycles” language neural networks to create neural pathways for literacy. Developing the ability to read requires explicit and systematic instruction. 

And here’s where the importance of segmenting the sounds of spoken language comes into play. Children must learn to identify the smallest units of sound in spoken language and then connect those sounds to letters and combinations of letters. Writing systems are codes invented arbitrarily. Children must be taught to crack the code by mapping spoken language onto written symbols. They must practice mapping sounds to symbols and then blending those sounds to read a word. These skills can be strengthened by “playing with sounds.” As a caregiver is driving, they can ask the child, “What is the first sound in ‘bus?’” Or “What is the last sound in ‘truck?’” Children must learn to pay attention to the sounds in words. These sounds are then mapped onto symbols and letters. Magnetic letters can be utilized to have the child practice identifying the sound that the letter represents. The caregiver can ask, “What sound does the letter ‘p’ represent?” Teaching this process explicitly and providing systematic opportunities to practice reading and writing words builds neural networks. 

These practices cannot be rushed or skipped. Students must practice reading and writing words to build neural networks and store words so they can be recognized instantly; this is not the same as memorization. Eye movement studies show that proficient readers process every sound that letters represent in a word before the eyes even fixate on the letter! 

Once students learn sound-letter connections, they must practice decoding words. As they continue practicing, the brain builds the neural networks and begins to store these words in the familiar-words area of the brain. Brain imaging shows that this part of the brain is only active in literate children and adults. This critical use of brain imaging informs how children learn to read and which instructional practices are most effective.

Reading comprehension results from the combination of word recognition and language comprehension. The three predictors mentioned earlier focus on word recognition skills. Language comprehension can be developed through reading and conversing with your child. Students need strong language comprehension skills, such as syntax, vocabulary, background knowledge, verbal reasoning, and literacy skills. To improve literacy proficiency levels, teaching these skills must be integrated into our elementary curriculum. As children reach fourth grade, language comprehension skills and oral language become a stronger predictor of proficient reading comprehension. 

Bringing it home 

During the 2020 pandemic, many parents got a front-row seat to reading instruction as they sat alongside their kindergartners’ and first graders’ classes. In reading exercises, they saw firsthand that their children were being told to memorize or guess words. When children were given text they hadn’t seen before, they couldn’t read it. Parents, many of whom were taught phonics and lettersound correspondence as children, quickly recognized these “reading tactics” as ineffective. 

Today, much of the discussion and national push for change in reading instruction within local educational systems is driven by parent advocates. You can support your child’s reading skills in the early years by asking questions about their instruction around these essential components: letter knowledge, concepts of print, and sound segmentation. 

Don’t hesitate to ask the school to monitor the progress of reading skills if your student is struggling. Specific assessments can quickly identify if students are making sufficient progress toward the end-of-year goals. 

If we commit to working together, both as educators and as caregivers, we can reduce the risk of reading failure and build foundational literacy skills for our children. Together, we can drastically improve America’s reading proficiency level.

Julia Brink D’Onofrio ’05, M.Ed. ’10 is an instructor teaching professor of education within the Herschend School of Education. 

She graduated from Gordon with her Bachelor of Science in psychology and early childhood education and a master’s degree in reading intervention. Julia is currently enrolled in a doctoral program with a concentration in reading science. 

As the College’s inaugural doctoral program, Gordon has launched a Doctor of Education in the Science of Learning to empower and equip scholar-practitioners to meet the growing needs of our nation’s literacy crisis. This new program will prepare educational leaders to identify problems within their education systems and implement evidence-based strategies to address them.