Category: Reading Programs for Struggling Readers

What can a Summer Reading Program do for your child?

Posted on by Nick Terry

Summer Reading Program 2024: Super Early Bird Special – Ends April 2nd at midnight. Sign Up

Flowers are blooming, days are getting longer and warmer, and summer is right around the corner. It might be time to start thinking about summer plans for your kids.

As much as we may think learning loss from COVID is over, many kids in grades 4th-8th are still behind. During this time, there has been a widening gap between students. High-income families were able to rely on private tutors during this time, whereas the rest of the students weren’t so lucky. (January 2024: The First Year of Pandemic Recovery: A District-Level Analysis)

The good news is that summer is the perfect time to help your kids improve their skills.

What Should a Summer Reading Program Include?

You might have heard the phrase lately known as The Science of Reading.

Well, what is The Science of Reading?

The Science of Reading is a systematic research-based way to teach all kids to read whether they have learning challenges or not. It is the most efficient way to teach kids how to read and to improve their reading skills. Unfortunately, not all teachers and school districts teach kids this way, but the good news is that you can make sure your kids learn these principles over the summer.

When you teach kids to read or improve their reading skills with The Science of Reading, you turn kids who HATE reading into kids who devour books and have newfound confidence.

So, what exactly is The Science of Reading composed of?

The Five Tenets of Reading (The Science of Reading):

What are each of these five tenets of reading?

  • Phonemic Awareness is the ability to hear, identify, and manipulate the individual sounds – phonemes – in spoken words.
  • Phonics uses the awareness of sounds and matches the sounds to the letter symbols.
  • Fluency is the ability to retrieve words effortlessly.
  • Vocabulary is the group of words you know and use effectively.
  • Comprehension is the ability to understand, analyze, synthesize, and use what you have read.

Okay, great. I know what The Science of Reading is now, but what do I do with my kids over the summer?

Ahhh, the paradox of choice. What you choose will depend on your budget, time you have available, and how much you and your kids want to improve their skills.

  1. Hire a private tutor
    Tutors can often cost an arm and a leg and can help with tailored one-on-one instruction. Depending on the tutor’s experience, they may or may not be experts at teaching reading and spelling with the science of reading. Unfortunately, they may turn out to be more expensive babysitters.
    Cost: $40-150/hr
  2. In-person or virtual 5-week classes
    These programs meet once a week for an hour and a half for five weeks live or on Zoom. These programs cost $350+ and often don’t improve kids’ reading skills as much as parents would like.
    Cost: $350+ per student
  3. Library summer programs
    These are great budget-friendly solutions. They often include a list of books for students to read and have meetings once a week or every other week. While there isn’t much focus on improving all the areas of reading (phonemic awareness, phonics, fluency, comprehension, and vocabulary), they do encourage kids to read, and something is better than nothing.
    Most of the time, library programs figure out that kids already know how to read, but they don’t often help kids who hate reading or are struggling.
    Cost: Free
  4. Scholar Within’s Summer Reading Program
    This program is rooted in the science of reading, plus it includes spelling and phonics video lessons, brain-body activities, executive function activities, card games, and more that get the whole family involved. This is a self-paced program that you can do at home on your schedule. A print material box (available separately) goes with the program’s online portion.

    This program is perfect for kids who struggle with reading, hate reading, have dyslexia, auditory processing issues, or have other learning difficulties. It was designed by board-certified educational therapist Bonnie Terry, M.Ed., BCET.

    This program does require some parent involvement. If you just want to sit your child in front of a computer, this is likely not the program for you. Grades K-3: Most of the activities are done together with the parent and child. Grades 4-8: A couple of activities are done with the parent and child together, and the rest the child can do independently.

    Cost: $97 $77 for 6 Weeks + $49 print material box (Limited time super early bird pricing)

A summer reading program can make the difference in your child’s future success. What if your child could make a 30% jump in their reading skills? What about 40 or 50%? With the right summer activities your child can drastically improve their skills and have a newfound confidence in the fall.

We might be biased, but we believe our summer program is the world’s best summer reading program for improving your kids reading skills over the summer.

Whether you choose Scholar Within’s program this summer or go another route, be sure to take the effort towards improving learning skills over the summer to prevent learning loss and to help build your child’s confidence when it comes to school.

Scholar Within’s Summer Reading Program Includes:

  • Weekly Reading Selections
  • Reading Comprehension Questions
  • Reading Fluency Training Drills
  • Phonics and Spelling Video Lessons
  • Spelling Worksheets and Puzzles
  • Note-Taking Printables
  • Executive Function Activities
  • Brain-Body Activities
  • Card Games
  • Daily Emails
  • And More!

The program is a holistic approach to improving learning reading skills. By incorporating more than just the five tenets of reading, greater progress can be made.

Learn more about the program

What Parents Say About Scholar Within’s Summer Reading Program for Struggling Readers

Jennifer K. says:

“I started using this program after a TON of research. I needed a good fit for my 8 yr old dyslexic daughter. I’d say she 1.5-2 reading grades behind.

We tried the summer program and loved it.

This program was very simple and easy to acclimate to, which was a blessing bc these days I don’t have the time and energy to deep dive learning new programs. Scholar Within was instantly engaging and with the easy to follow step by step layout it made everything so approachable. I had to reach out through chat a few times and always received responses quickly and they were kind, helpful, and encouraging. 5 star customer service! I like how you can change the levels within the program (I started lower so that I could build her confidence) and the variety within lessons.

You might see that some are saying there’s a lot of printing, I was at first concerned about this but it really wasn’t bad. I’d just print a few lessons ahead of time and keep them in the folder. It was actually pretty easy and only took 1-2 minutes. They also have an option for some of the weeks to buy pre-printed materials. Do what works for you 🙂 My daughter said she really liked the games too.”

One component of the Summer Reading Program made a big difference for Brenda Prince. She says:

“I’ve been using the program with my ten-year-old special needs son who is reading below grade level and I can say that there has been a vast improvement as to his performance on each drill, both in his mastery of reading the words on the list as well as the number of words he reads each time. For example, his first attempt at Drill One which consists of Consonant-Vowel-Consonant words with the short a sound, he read eighteen words in the minute time frame but missed seven of those words. Over a period of three weeks, he was able to increase his speed to one hundred and eight words per minute and correctly pronouncing all of those words. When we moved on to subsequent drills, I noticed that he did much better, even on his first attempt at reading the word list.”

Janine Franks says:

“Thanks so much for the help you have given us. One of my sons was quite dyslexic in reading but after using your system, I rarely notice any sign of it. He actually enjoys reading now. He´s read Narnia on his own!”

Scholar Within and Bonnie Terry’s Summer Reading Program can be perfect for readers of all levels, whether they are at, above, or below reading proficiency for their grade level. It not only incorporates the five tenets of reading, but it focuses on improving the processes of how people learn. When your areas of visual, auditory, and tactile/kinesthetic perception are working as well as possible, it makes learning and reading easier for you.

This program also benefits those with dyslexia, ADHD, learning disabilities, or other reading struggles. It is specifically designed to help those that are either behind in reading, struggle with reading, or just want to boost their reading skills.

Learn more about the Summer Reading Program here.

Be sure to sign up for the program.

Who Is Bonnie Terry?

Bonnie Terry, M. Ed., BCET is the author of Five Minutes To Better Reading Skills, Ten Minutes To Better Study Skills and numerous other books, reading games, and guides. She is a Board Certified Educational Therapist and internationally recognized as America’s Leading Learning Specialist and the founder of BonnieTerryLearning.com. Terry is an expert in identifying students’ learning disabilities. Ms. Terry shows teachers and parents how can give their child a 2 to 4-year learning advantage in just 45-60 minutes a day. She is a frequent media guest and speaker.

Vocabulary and Comprehension: How Are They Connected?

Posted on by Bonnie Terry

There is a direct correlation between vocabulary and comprehension. If you don’t understand a word, how it is used, what it is related to, you don’t comprehend it. Comprehension is the ability to understand, analyze, synthesize, and use what you have read, heard, or seen. Words, otherwise known as vocabulary, are in everything: what you read, what you speak, what you listen to. Words are everywhere. So, to improve comprehension, we need to improve the vocabulary we use.

Vocabulary is often described as the knowledge-base of words and their meanings. This is the ‘go-to place’ in the memory system of the brain where comprehension takes place. We take in a word, process it, make associations with it, and file it into long-term memory. Once it is in long-term memory, it can be retrieved and used.

If you don’t have a large vocabulary to draw upon, comprehension becomes difficult. In fact, “lacking either adequate word identification skills or adequate vocabulary will ensure failure” (Biemiller, 2005). The Nation’s Report Card states, “Students who scored high in comprehension also scored high on vocabulary.” So, improving one improves the other. The more words you know (understand and can use appropriately), the better you comprehend.

How To Improve Vocabulary and Comprehension

Research states that vocabulary needs to be taught in a variety of ways for students to be able to use the words they learn at a later time.

  1. Direct instruction
  2. Repetition and multiple exposures
  3. Words must be useful so they can be used in multiple contexts

Apply the Research on Vocabulary and Comprehension

Teach new vocabulary:

  1. Use a story to model what the word means.
  2. Use the new word into a story or example that they have made up.
  3. Draw a picture or doodle a picture of what the words mean.
  4. Write the new word in a vocabulary notebook, keep your story example and picture with it.
  5. Engage in conversations using the new word every day for 5-10 days.
  6. Play games with the words.

The Summer Reading Program provides a variety of ways to improve vocabulary and thereby comprehension skills. Two specific activities are to draw a picture or doodle about what you read and playing the weekly card game. The card games rotate from word structure games that build vocabulary to specific vocabulary games that build word associations. Students learn and practice vocabulary in a relaxed game setting.  Eric Jensen, author of Brain-Based Learning, (1997) states, “Through visual and kinesthetic methods you’ll increase student performance.” Games do just that!

Learn More

Who is Bonnie Terry?

Bonnie Terry, M. Ed., BCET is the author of Five Minutes To Better Reading Skills, Ten Minutes To Better Study Skills and numerous others books, reading games, and guides and the Awaken the Scholar Within Programs. She is a Board Certified Educational Therapist and internationally recognized as America’s Leading Learning Specialist and the founder of BonnieTerryLearning.com. Terry is an expert in identifying students’ learning disabilities. Ms. Terry coaches teachers and parents so they can give their child a 2 to 4-year learning advantage in just 45-60 minutes a day. She is a frequent media guest and speaker.

How Executive Function Skills Impact Reading

Posted on by Bonnie Terry

What are Executive Function Skills?

Executive function skills are part of our daily lives. These are the planning, organizing, and prioritizing skills that help you start a task and stay focused on it until completion. From doing your homework to planning a family vacation to building a sand castle, these skills are critical.

We don’t often think of the connection executive functions skills have with reading, but these skills also impact reading.

How Executive Function Impacts Reading

Any time you read:

  • You decide what you are going to read.
  • You decide when you are going to read.
  • You plan your reading to fit it into your day.

As you read a news story, an article, or a book, you constantly are using your executive functions skills by asking yourself:

  • Is this important?
  • Do I need to remember this?
  • What associations can I draw to the characters?
  • Do I have any personal life experiences that are relatable?

As you ask yourself questions about what you are reading as you are reading, it helps you retain, understand, and fully comprehend what you read. This is actually a component of executive function.

What reading processes are affected by executive function?

Your working memory and mental flexibility are activated by your executive function skills (asking yourself these questions, planning, and organizing your thoughts). Once you are able to organize your thoughts with your working memory and flexibility, you are able to act succinctly.

  • Vocabulary: helps you organize and categorize words to retain meaning
  • Grammar: helps you interpret content (the nuances and subtleties of the English language, for example: whether a group of words is a statement or a question)
  • Word and sentence emphasis: what words and sentences are important to gather meaning from (what type of mood or emotional context does the passage convey)

Executive function skills and working memory come into every aspect of reading. This includes retrieving word meaning and integrating that with prior knowledge and experience.

Your ability to maintain focus impacts your ability to read easily. Working memory comes into play by helping us to hold onto multiple bits of information in a paragraph as well as a story.

Executive Function Skills Build Foundational Reading Skills

Research by Laurie Cutting and George McCloskey has established the contributions of executive function to the reading process. Executive function skills work directly with working memory. If you improve your executive function skills, your reading comprehension skills will naturally improve. There are specific activities for different age groups that strengthen executive function and reading skills.

Summer Reading Program 2019

Summer Reading Program Includes Executive Function Activities

We included executive function activities in our Summer Reading Program because of this direct connection. As executive function skills improve, reading skills improve.

The Summer Reading Program is for entering kindergarteners through 8th graders. Every student can improve their reading skills.

Learn more about our Summer Reading Program here.

Who is Bonnie Terry?

Bonnie Terry, M. Ed., BCET is the author of Five Minutes To Better Reading Skills, Ten Minutes To Better Study Skills and numerous others books, reading games, and guides. She is a Board Certified Educational Therapist and internationally recognized as America’s Leading Learning Specialist and the founder of BonnieTerryLearning.com. Terry is an expert in identifying students’ learning disabilities. Ms. Terry coaches teachers and parents so they can give their child a 2 to 4-year learning advantage in just 45-60 minutes a day. She is a frequent media guest and speaker.

Rapid Naming: What is it? How does it Impact Reading?

Posted on by Bonnie Terry

Rapid naming, often referred to as RAN (Rapid Automatized Naming), is critical to reading skills. It is the aspect of phonologic processing that allows a person to automatically retrieve the names and sounds of letters, symbols, words, word chunks, sentences, and rhymes in a quick and effortless manner.

This ability to retrieve stored information rapidly is directly related to the type of process that one goes through when they are reading. I like to think of it in terms of being able to press the ‘easy button.’ In other words, it is so easy to bring information up it is like you don’t even have to think about it.

In order to make sense of the written word, a child or adult must be able to quickly access and retrieve stored phonemes and/or word or word chunks that are stored in memory.

Rapid Naming (Rapid Automatized Naming or RAN)

Rapid Naming directly correlates with processing speed. When you are able to improve your visual processing speed, you inherently improve your reading skills. If it takes you less time to be able to recognize a shape, letter, or word, you are able to read faster. If it takes you less time to do this, it also means that it takes less effort.

Rapid Automatized Naming (RAN) has been researched for close to three decades. The Rapid Automatized Naming (RAN) Test demonstrates that the majority of children and adults with reading difficulties have problems with rapid naming. In fact, they are slower to process even most familiar symbols and stimuli in the language: letters, numbers, colors, and similar objects.

Snyder and Downey (1995) report from the Denver Reading Study that the accuracy rates of those with reading difficulties and those with normal achieving readers were not significantly different. The only significant differences noted were reaction time and production duration; readers with reading difficulties had significantly longer reaction times and production durations.

Can You Improve Your Rapid Naming Skills?

You can use flash cards of different symbols, shapes, colors, letters, and numbers and have your kids say the name of the objects as you cycle through the cards. But, because we read from left to right, the best way to practice rapid naming is to have shapes, letters, numbers and/or symbols listed from left to right. This activity also helps improve reading fluency and visual tracking skills.

Announcing Rapid Naming Drills in Our Summer Reading Program

We have just added rapid naming drills to our Summer Reading Program. These drills focus on simple symbols to call upon and to scan from left to right to work on your ability to automatically interpret the symbol as well as to work on your visual processing and tracking skills. This is just one part of our holistic approach to improving reading skills. Additionally, we also have included specific reading fluency drills. Registration is now open.

Sign Up

Who is Bonnie Terry?

Bonnie Terry, M. Ed., BCET is the author of Five Minutes To Better Reading Skills, Ten Minutes To Better Study Skills and numerous others books, reading games, and guides and is the CEO of Scholar Within, Inc. She is a Board Certified Educational Therapist and internationally recognized as America’s Leading Learning Specialist and the founder of BonnieTerryLearning.com. Terry is an expert in identifying students’ learning disabilities. Ms. Terry coaches teachers and parents so they can give their child a 2 to 4-year learning advantage in just 45-60 minutes a day. She is a frequent media guest and speaker.

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