Practice Deficit

There are times in one's life when a little help is needed

Some kids don't read as much as others.  There can be a variety of reasons why:

They may have inefficient skills and have to work harder than others to decode. 

Who wants to do something that is difficult for them? 

 

If their decoding skills are inefficient, they may be working so hard at decoding the words that they miss the meaning.  

Who wants to read much when they aren't getting anything out of it?

Some readers are slow processors and cannot read the same amount as good readers can in a given time period.  

Who wants to read if it takes forever?  And even if I do read, I can't seem to read as much as everyone else!

Any of these common problems can lead to what has been termed a "practice deficit."  What this means is, a reader who is not reading a lot may have seen any given word maybe 100 times in print, whereas a good reader who likes to read may have seen the same word 1000 times! 

 This practice deficit means that the first reader will be less automatic and skilled at identifying those words when he or she encounters them in text, and will also be less likely to know the proper spelling of those same words.

This is one of the reasons why it is so critical to seek early intervention for decoding or fluency issues.  Every month that one waits, the practice deficit is growing.    If you are concerned that a reader in your household may have any of these problems, an evaluation with us could give you clarity and a plan of action to make reading easier for your child.