There’s nothing more painful than making someone do something they don’t like to do. When a student absolutely loathes reading… even though you know they need to practice, you don’t want to put them through the struggle. You know it’s best for them in the long run so you muster up the strength to persist, but it still hurts you inside. It’s not fun to watch someone struggle, and when they resist, you want to free them of the pain. But… you do what’s best for your students in the long run.

But, some teachers wonder… how long should I persist? How long should I put my struggling readers through the process that absolutely pains them? How long before reading practice stops being beneficial and starts hindering progress?

To answer this question I went to Reading Horizons Dyslexia Specialist and Teacher Trainer, Shantell Berrett, and here’s what she had to say:  

Key Points:

• Before worrying about reading practice, make sure a struggling reader has had and knows how to apply proper decoding strategies.
• If a struggling reader absolutely has to practice reading before completing a proper reading intervention, cut the time down into chunks, never longer than 10-15 minutes.
• Providing a struggling reader with a proper intervention is much more helpful than requiring them to practice reading.

Learn how Reading Horizons reading curriculum helps struggling readers master the fundamentals of the English language in our elementary reading program.