From Barking to Fluency

Helping You Focus While Your Struggling Reader Figures It Out

By Kathy Reynolds
Book in hand, 12-year-old Brent barked1 nonstop throughout the reading. His
frustration mounted, he fumbled, and I felt awkward. My teacher-ingrained
confidence trusted that my young sons would fare far better than this young man
was faring. Homeschooling? Scary stuff!
Uh-oh, my inflated ego was showing.
Later, having been humbled through our own struggles, I empathized with Brent and
what numerous other homeschoolers had experienced. I wish I had known more
about the process my later-age readers were going through.
My firstborn, Josiah, read early and easily. If one of my two middle sons had been
first in line, Id have thought I failed, miserably.

A good teacher is not noted by how early a child masters important skills.
All kids dont read and write fluently by second grade.
The reading process varies, sometimes taking years.
Poor readers in elementary school could end up as thriving bibliophiles in high
school.

Reading Can Wait

Parenting is a challenge. James 1:4 reminds us that patience produces maturity (or
perfection) with perpetual results. Better Late Than Early authors, Raymond and
Dorothy Moore, share many unconventional success stories through their research
and publications. Their conclusion is significant: . . . We analyzed over 8,000 studies
of childrens senses, brain, cognition, socialization, etc., and are certain that no
replicable evidence exists for rushing children into formal study at home or school
before 8 or 10.2
I was eager, yet sometimes frazzled, as our homeschool adventures evolved. Gideon
and Ben were ages 11 and 10 when reading finally clicked, so thats a five/six-year
wait and commitment to reading readiness activities compared to their older brother,
who was fluent at 5.
We dont just wait for their brains to get ready, though. In Different Learners, Jane
Healy, Ph.D. advises that we prepare the brains of late-bloomers by providing the
right experiences, and get this: she proposes that they may be smarter in the long
run.3 She cites a study published in 2006: . . . Children who ended up with the
superior intellectual abilities were the ones whose brains took longest to matureas
much as four years longerpossibly because the extra time helped them develop
richer neural networks.4 Was this the case for Albert Einstein, Thomas Edison, or
Leonardo da Vinci, who were noted for their learning glitches?5
Attitude Is Prime

Many discouraged late-bloomers think of themselves as stupid. Children need

successnot failure, which can result in being labeled as some kind of failure.
Thankfully, with homeschooling, my sons were spared those disabling tags and
accompanying ridicule, yet there were instances in Sunday School, with neighbor
kids, and with some well-intentioned adults that we had to be wary of.
I believed that my sons would become young men of character, great readers, and
independent thinkers (they did!)so my actions had to show it. Its not about how
quickly they get it or the number of books they read or how high they score on
testing day. Its about meeting children face to face, loving them with the love of
Christ in us, being an example of His grace and goodness, and enjoying life and
learning together. Had I realized some things earlier, my different learners would
have figured things out with a healthier can-do mindset, with less pushing and
fretting, and with more rejoicing and admiration for the mega-way God wired them.
Right Is Bright
In her consultation practice, Dianne Craft finds that 80% of the struggling learners
she sees are right-brain dominant.6 At 14, Jeremie asked me if I thought in pictures.
Huh? It was a Twilight Zone moment. As a visual-spatial learner,7 when he reads
he sees pictures in his mind. Dont you focus on and say the words to yourself? I
asked. Nopehe visualizes and then stores it in his memory. Why didnt I know this
before?
Aha! Thats what I said while reading Right-Brained Children in a Left-Brained
World.8 I now understood the tears and misunderstandings we had experienced. Its
no wonder that reading aloud is frustrating: they see words, make the connection to
turn them into pictures, and then must verbalize them.9 But hey, these same kids
will likely become great silent readers! Just thinkhe who easily visualizes
comprehends best.10 As a teenager, I remember devouring difficult books with no
comprehension; I read every word, but was I reading?
In college my husband and I took the same history class. My left-brained self
attended every lecture, studied and re-read every chapter in the book, and took
copious notes, while my husband just sat through the lecturewe both got a B. His
and my sons method of figuring out difficult problems in their heads astounds me;
their memories are the notepads. Do right-brainers have an advantage?
Phonics Plus Mnemonics
Eventually most right-brained children do learn to read by around third grade,
probably with the help of an expanding sight vocabulary.11 The more right-brained a
child is, the less progress youll likely see with your phonics program. For us, phonics
wasnt enough. We added a visual-kinesthetic approach to our routine. Looking at
color-coded cards and gazing upward while visualizing, Ben clapped the rhythm with
me while spelling words aloud. It appeared that dictation and copyworkCharlotte
Mason style, plus memorizing rhymes and Scripture, reinforced the reading process
and advanced their progress. Games like those found in Peggy Kayes Games for
Reading added an element of fun too.12
Rule Out Dyslexia

According to Dr. Moore, dyslexia exists in brain-damaged children, and we should

not attach the dyslexic label to a child simply because his physiology is not mature
enough to tackle the complexity of reading at the moment.13 The subtle dyslexic
tendencies my sons displayed were not an issue after I read John Holts interesting
perspective about dyslexia in his book Teach Your Own.14 Prayerfully seeking
knowledge about human biology, nutritional science, and learning styles is
important, and sometimes professional help and testing is warranted. Become the
expert.
Take heart and change your focus. Consider that your child is not delayed or
disabledGods design is that we dont all learn in the same ways or on the same
schedule. Thank God, and revel in who your child is.
I have set the Lord always before me: because He is at my right hand, I shall not be
moved. Therefore my heart is glad, and my glory rejoiceth: my flesh also shall rest
in hope (Psalm 16: 89).
Encourage Independent Interests
Inspire kids to explore their fascinations and fine-tune their pursuits. If your focus is
on areas your child is enthusiastic about, reading wont be as big of an issue. You
should read aloud, exposing your child to the wonders of language, but set a fiveminute oral limit for your child. Our sons craved books about facts, science, action,
oddities, biographiesand those that struck the funny bone. Enjoy growing your
home library with the use of resources such as Who Should We Then Read.15
Success! Our sons eventually figured it out while I focused on character with one
main academic goal: to give them the tools necessary for independent learning.
Those baffling, barking days are over and weve been blessed to homeschool, which
is not scary and one of my favorite activities!
Kathy homeschooled her four sons for twenty-three yearsthe youngest is a 2012
homeschooling graduate. All are excellent readers, lovers of life and learning, and
independent-thinking entrepreneur types like their dad. Kathy is a freelance writer
and newly re-licensed RN with interests in holistic natural health, raw food
preparation, book collecting and encouraging others. Visit Kathy at her blogs:
LivingLearningatHome.blogspot.com and RawChef30days.blogspot.com.
Endnotes:
1. Known as barking at print: sounding out the words, without expression or
meaning.
2. www.moorefoundation.com/article/5/moore-formula.
3. Jane M. Healy, Ph.D., Different Learners, Simon & Schuster, 2011, pg. 220.
4. Ibid., pg. 221.
5. Jeffrey Freed, M.A.T., and Laurie Parsons, Right-Brained Children in a Left-Brained
World, Simon & Schuster Inc., 1997, pg. 31.
6. www.diannecraft.org. Excellent site to help with visual processing and a variety of
learning problems.
7. www.dyslexia.com/library/silver1.htm.
8. Jeffrey Freed, M.A.T., and Laurie Parsons, Right-Brained Children in a Left-Brained
World, Simon & Schuster, 1997.
9. Ibid., pg. 104.
10. Ibid., pg. 113.

11. Ibid., pg. 106.

12. Peggy Kaye, Games for Reading, Pantheon Books, 1984,
www.peggykaye.com/target.php?ct=welcome.
13. Dr. Raymond and Dorothy Moore, The Successful Homeschool Family Handbook,
Thomas Nelson Inc., 1994, pg. 102.
14. John Holt, Teach Your Own, Da Capo Press, 2003.
15. Jan Bloom, Who Should We Then Read, Booksbloom, 2001.
Copyright 2012, used with permission. All rights reserved by author. Originally
appeared in the October 2012 issue of The Old Schoolhouse Magazine, the family
education magazine. Read the magazine free at www.TOSMagazine.com or read it on
the go and download the free apps at www.TOSApps.com to read the magazine on
your mobile devices