
When we think about reading difficulties, especially in students with dyslexia, we often focus on decoding skills. However, reading comprehension presents its own unique challenges that deserve careful attention. Understanding these challenges and implementing effective strategies is crucial for both parents and educators supporting young readers.
Reading comprehension is a complex mental process that goes beyond simply reading words to understand their meaning. When readers truly comprehend text, they connect what they're reading to what they already know, create mental pictures, check their understanding, and make logical guesses about what isn't directly stated. This process draws on several essential skills: understanding language patterns and word meanings, using previous knowledge and experiences, remembering what was just read, maintaining focus, and thinking about their own understanding. Like a skilled conductor leading an orchestra, the mind coordinates all these elements to achieve the ultimate purpose of reading: understanding and learning from the written word.
Understanding the Comprehension Challenge

Many students with dyslexia struggle with comprehension, but not always for the same reasons. For some, the intense focus required for decoding leaves little cognitive energy for understanding the text, even when they appear to read fluently. Others may decode relatively well but still struggle specifically with comprehension. This diversity of challenges highlights why explicit comprehension instruction is essential.
Referring to Scarborough's Reading Rope, we see that comprehension involves multiple strands, including background knowledge, vocabulary, language structures, verbal reasoning, and literacy knowledge. Each of these components needs direct instruction and practice.
The Foundation: Explicit Instruction
Contrary to what many might assume, comprehension skills don't develop automatically once a student can decode words. These skills must be explicitly taught, practiced, and reinforced. This process begins with heavy teacher involvement and gradually shifts toward student independence.
Building Blocks of Understanding

Before diving into any text, successful comprehension requires:
Pre-teaching key vocabulary
Activating and building background knowledge
Discussing real-world connections
Examining visual supports
Exploring text features
Think of this as preparing the mental soil where understanding will grow. The richer this preparation, the better the comprehension will take root.
Pro Tip: Check out our Free Growing Good Readers Download adapted from Scarborough's Reading Rope.
The Power of Think-Alouds
One of our most powerful tools for teaching comprehension is the think-aloud strategy. When teachers verbalize their thinking process while reading, they make invisible mental strategies visible to students. This modeling is especially crucial when discussing background knowledge, a key component highlighted in Natalie Wexler's The Knowledge Gap and supported by E.D. Hirsch's research through the Core Knowledge Foundation.

Structured Comprehension Techniques
Effective comprehension instruction follows a clear progression:
Teacher-Led Discussion Begin with explicit guidance through the fundamental questions:
Who are the characters?
What is the problem?
When does the story take place?
Where does it happen?
Why is there a problem?
How is it resolved?
Supported Practice Use visual aids and organizational tools:
Anchor charts for reference
Graphic organizers to structure thinking
Color-coded sticky notes to track elements
Visual representations of story elements
Gradual Release Move toward student independence through:
Socratic questioning to encourage deeper thinking
Guided practice in metacognition
Collaborative discussions
Independent application of strategies
From Basic to Complex Comprehension
As students progress, comprehension skills naturally evolve from basic understanding to more sophisticated analysis. This progression might include:
Summarizing main ideas
Making inferences
Drawing conclusions
Synthesizing information from multiple sources
Analyzing author's purpose and craft
The Institute for Excellence in Writing (IEW) provides excellent examples of how students can move from understanding source texts to synthesizing information for their own writing, demonstrating the crucial link between reading comprehension and written expression.
Supporting Success: Practical Tips
For Parents and Teachers:
Make it Visual
Use graphic organizers consistently
Create story maps
Implement color-coding systems
Build Background Knowledge
Discuss topics before reading
Connect to real-world experiences
Use multimedia resources to build context
Support Active Engagement
Encourage prediction
Ask probing questions
Connect text to personal experiences

Moving Forward
Like all skills related to reading, comprehension development is a journey, not a destination. Students need time, practice, and support to develop these crucial skills, especially those with dyslexia. The goal is to move from teacher-supported understanding to independent metacognition, where students actively monitor and direct their own comprehension.
As educators and parents, our role is to provide the scaffolding needed at each stage of this development, gradually releasing responsibility as students become more capable and confident in their comprehension abilities.
Share your thoughts Parents & Teachers: Where are you seeing your student(s) struggle with comprehension?
Looking for more specific strategies or resources? Visit our website for downloadable guides, visual aids, and additional support materials.
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