Reading should be the cornerstone of each child’s education. While most kids acquire this essential skill with little difficulty, some encounter obstacles that seem unsurmountable along the way. Let’s look at a few of these.
Obstacle 1: Socio-Economic Problems
In the Middle Ages, being able to read and write was a badge of privilege. Even as recently as a hundred years ago, it was not uncommon for children from poorer families to leave school to earn a much needed wage instead. Charles Dickens was able to chronicle child labor of the Victorian era as well as he did, because he was once part of that juvenile workforce. Hans Christian Andersen, the beloved creator of fairy tales such as The Little Mermaid and The Snow Queen (one of the featured stories on PonyApps) also had to leave school early to work as a tailor’s apprentice. Later, when he had moved to Copenhagen, an influential sponsor helped him to complete his schooling and attend Copenhagen University.
Today, poverty is still the number one cause of illiteracy. A 2013 study by the Department of Education in the USA showed that there are 32 million Americans who cannot read and write. The cost of illiteracy is shared by the next generation. People who cannot read and write are excluded from numerous career opportunities. They also cannot read bedtime stories to their children. There are usually little or no good books for kids in the home and children won’t discover the joys of reading through the example of an adult role model.
The country singer, Dolly Parton grew up with a hard-working, but illiterate father and in his memory, she founded her Imagination Express library. Having experienced the impact of illiteracy on a family’s opportunities first hand, she is deeply motivated to ensure that poor families should also experience the gift of books and reading. Each month, the Imagination Express mails millions of books to underprivileged children between the ages of 0 and 5.
Obstacle 2 – Bullying
The Three Billy Goats Gruff of the story are threatened by a troll who lives under the bridge they need to cross to reach a pasture full of yummy grass. In real life, many kids encounter a similar creature to that nasty troll at some point in their school career. Just like trolls, bullies lurk around the corners of classrooms or ambush their victims when they least expect it during recess. When their fear campaign is successful, their targets become depressed. Often, this affects school work negatively, as kids may skip classes to avoid their tormenters or even drop out of school.
We sometimes forget that attending school is not just about teaching kids to read. It also forms an early framework of a child’s social identity. Kids can get singled out for character quirks, the clothes they wear and for having interests that are a little different and eccentric. For example, a girl might be bullied if she loves reading genres like science fiction, which are considered boyish. Intelligent children are often targeted, and this might prompt them to play down their educational talents to become socially acceptable. Unfortunately, this creates the impression that education and reading is uncool.
Obstacle 3: Learning Differences
For a child with a learning disability, the 26 tiny letters of the alphabet can appear as daunting as an ogre in a fairy tale. It gobbles up his self-esteem and makes him dread simple tasks such as standing up in class to read out loud. Children who struggle with reading are often branded as slow, stupid or lazy. In the case of dyslexics, nothing could be further from the truth. The list of famous persons with dyslexia includes inventors, entrepreneurs, actors, authors and even kings, princes and princesses.
So how do you tell that there is a real problem? A child with dyslexia often seems intelligent and creative, until you ask that child to reflect what he or she knows by writing it down. Whoopi Goldberg relates in an interview that this was exactly how her mom picked up on her problem at an early age and encouraged her not to give up.
An evaluation test will help you to determine your child’s strengths and weaknesses, as there are different forms of dyslexia. While some kids battle with the phonetic sounds of letters, others find it impossible to distinguish between left and right or to focus on a letter’s placement within a word or phrase. Knowing what your child struggles with, will empower you both to devise solutions that are tailor-made for your situation. The actor Henry Winkler, himself a dyslexic, emphasizes the importance of individual solutions when teaching kids to read with his My Way campaign.
Finding Strategies of support to bridge the gap
There are a number of tools that can help and support children who struggle with reading and writing. PonyApps has a great selection of basic reading apps that are fun to use and engage children with interactive games and puzzles. Intermediate readers can cut their teeth on over 500 digital books available in Rainbow Bridge’s Skybrary. Millennials will probably remember Rainbow Bridge as the long-running kids program presented by Levar Burton. The app is based on the popular show. Older kids may want to check out Friends of Quinn, a community support website operated by Quinn Bradlee. The site provides a resource for young adults with learning differences (as Quinn calls it) and offers inspiring news stories as well as community support for persons with learning disabilities and their families. On his YouTube channel, he features talks with various well-known persons with dyslexia, including the billionaire Richard Branson and actress Whoopi Goldberg.
On the subject of reading material, there are plenty of good books for kids that address some of the issues discussed in this article. Several fairy tales ranging from Cinderella to the Ugly Duckling, deal with some form of bullying. With her series of picture books, Hugo the Happy Starfish, Suzy Liebermann aims to teach kids about emotions and in one of the books, Hugo the Last Bully, Hugo tackles the topic of bullying. Alexis O’Neill’s Recess Queen is jam-packed with fun to read rhymes and made up words as it tells the tale of how tiny newcomer Katie Sue tames Mean Jean. Confessions of a Former Bully by Trudy Ludwig is for slightly older kids and gives you an insider into the mind set of bullies. In the diary style narrative with illustrations by Beth Adams, ten-year-old Kate promises to tell readers all the things that bullies don’t want them to know. There is also a book told from the viewpoint of Kate’s victim, Monica, called The Secret Bully.
Kids with learning disabilities can find support in Henry Winkler’s humorous Hank Zipzer book series, which stars a twelve-year old boy with dyslexia who sometimes employs hilarious strategies to avert the inevitable trouble that results from his underachievement. Hank Zipzer’s struggles are based on the actor’s own problems as a child with dyslexia. The books were converted to a TV series in 2014. Henry Winkler also launched the My Way! Campaign, along with First News to highlight the struggles of kids with dyslexia.
As your child grows up, he or she develops stronger problem-solving skills and becomes as self-reliant as the largest of the Three Billy Goats. Stories are a vital part of this process. Besides serving as an important aid in teaching kids to read, they also provide nourishment for the spirit and empower children through their narratives.
