09/08/2026
âBut he can already read.â
That was what a mom told me when she came to me about her son.
Her concern was that he could read words and sentences, but he often struggled to understand what he had just read.
So before deciding what to teach him, we assessed him.
And what we found was interesting.
He could decode some words, but certain patterns were still taking a lot of effortâmagic e words, digraphs, and blends. He could read them sometimes, but they werenât automatic yet.
And that distinction matters.
Because when a child is still using a lot of mental effort to figure out how to read the words, there is less attention available for understanding what those words mean.
So weâre not going to simply give him more comprehension worksheets.
For now, our goal is to strengthen his reading fluency while gradually building comprehension alongside it. We want the decoding to become easier, smoother, and more automatic.
Because sometimes, when a child struggles to understand what they read, the answer isnât simply, âTeach more comprehension.â
Sometimes, we need to look at what is happening underneath the comprehension problem.
Thatâs why our reading program begins with assessment.
We donât start with a textbook.
We start with the child.
