Why Does My Child Struggle with Reading?

Struggle with reading? Take a moment to consider this. When we are born we have to learn many motor skills such as using our hands and fingers, walking ect. These skills we practice over time until we master the coordination. Similarly we need to develop our vision muscles and master our reading and tracking skills.

If your child struggles to concentrate when reading or keep their spot on the page it could be connected to a low tracking development skill. Tracking is putting two eyes on a word and then moving quickly and efficiently from one word to the next.

To assist the reading development of your child we use tests to measure tracking. This helps us to identify if this is the factor causing reading to be so hard. By measuring it we can also measure the progress of how well their tracking is improving. We also need to find out why. Most commonly there is an inefficiency, which is making it difficult for the muscles to coordinate effectively. Muscle fatigue is a strong element. It makes the eye less coordinated and stops us practicing.  The only way to improve a skill is through practice- if I get tired and stop- then I’m not improving.

If any of these symptoms reflect with your child’s reading behaviour, chat to us we’d love to help. Sometimes what seems like a tricky or frustrating problem can be resolved with a simple solution. Don’t hesitate to book an appointment with us today.