Growing Confident Readers

29 Jun

By Kim Wyrley-Birch, Specialist Teacher and Dyslexia Assessor , and Founder of Let’s Fly Reading Programme

2026 is the National Year of Reading, a wonderful opportunity to celebrate the magic of books and the important role reading plays in children's lives. Reading opens doors to imagination, strengthens communication, nurtures curiosity, and supports learning across every subject. Just as importantly, books and stories help children connect with others, explore new ideas, and experience the joy of language in ways that are meaningful to them.

For many parents, watching a child learn to read is an exciting and joyful milestone. Children begin recognising letters, sounding out simple words, and before long they are proudly reading little books aloud. For other families, however, the journey can feel much slower and more challenging, bringing worry, frustration, and questions about how best to help. Some children may learn to enjoy stories in different ways, through shared reading, pictures, symbols, audiobooks, or assistive technology, and these experiences are just as valuable.

If your child is finding reading difficult, you are certainly not alone, and neither are they. Learning to read is a complex process, and every child develops these skills at their own pace. Some children need more time, more repetition, or a different approach. Whatever your child's journey, understanding, patience, and the right support can help them develop confidence and discover the pleasure that books and stories can bring.

What does learning to read really involve?

Reading is about so much more than recognising letters on a page. It involves many different skills working together all at once.

One of the most important foundations is phonological awareness, which is the ability to hear and work with the sounds in words. Children need to understand that words are made up of smaller sound units (phonemes), and that these sounds can be blended together to make words. For example, hearing the sounds /c/ /a/ /t/ and blending them into “cat”.

For some children, difficulties with phonological awareness can make reading particularly challenging. They may struggle to process sounds accurately or remember the correct order of sounds within a word. This can lead to words being mixed up, for example reading “cat” as “cut” because the sounds /a/ and /u/ are confused. These children often need much more explicit teaching, repetition, and targeted support to help strengthen their awareness of sounds within words.

Closely linked to this is phonics, where children learn to connect sounds to written letters or groups of letters. For example, “ph” makes the same sound as “f”. This understanding allows children to decode words when reading. Some children need much more time and repetition to remember these sound and letter patterns, which can make reading feel slower and more effortful in the early stages.

Children also rely heavily on working memory, which is like the brain's temporary holding space. As they read, they need to remember the individual sounds long enough to blend them into words, keep track of the letters and words on the page, and hold onto the meaning of what they have just read so the story continues to make sense. For some children, trying to juggle all of these different tasks at the same time can make reading feel much harder. This is one of the reasons why reading may be slow, effortful, and tiring for some learners, even though they are trying their very best.

Another important skill is a type of processing called rapid naming, which refers to how quickly children can recognise familiar letters, sounds, or words. When this process is slower, reading can continue to feel effortful for much longer and may always be slow, even when a child understands the words perfectly well.

As children become more experienced readers, they also begin developing orthographic skills. This means they start to recognise familiar letter patterns, and whole words automatically. Over time, words become stored in long term memory, allowing children to read more fluently without needing to sound out every word individually. This automatic recognition is an important step in helping reading become smoother, faster, and more enjoyable.

And then comes comprehension. To understand what they are reading, children need enough mental space to think about meaning and follow the story. When a child is still working very hard to sound out individual words, there is often very little brain space left for understanding the text itself. This can sometimes make it appear as though they do not understand what they are reading, when in reality they are simply using all their energy on decoding.

The power of repetition and practise

The lovely thing is that, over time and with repetition, words become stored in long term memory and can be recognised automatically. Once this happens, reading becomes much smoother, easier, and more enjoyable.

When children see and read the same words many times, those words gradually become stored in long term memory. Eventually, they no longer need to sound them out each time because they can recognise them instantly.

For some children, this process happens quickly. For others, it can take many more repetitions before a word truly “sticks”, and that is completely normal.

There is no need to rush. In fact, slower and steadier learning is often far more effective. Re reading familiar books, revisiting known sounds, and practising words in different contexts all help children build confidence and fluency over time.

Supporting Your Child at Home

Parents play such an important role in nurturing reading development, and often it is the small, everyday moments that make the biggest difference.

Here are some gentle ways you can support your child at home:

Giving children choice can make a huge difference. Encourage them to read books they genuinely enjoy, even if they want to revisit the same story again and again. Familiarity builds confidence, and confidence helps children persevere.
Create a calm, cosy, consistent reading routine. Even a few minutes each day can have a lasting impact. Share the reading together, perhaps your child reads one sentence while you read the next. Gradually increase this as confidence grows. Some days they may only manage one word, and that is absolutely okay.
Give your child plenty of time to process words without rushing them.
Celebrate effort as much as accuracy. Children thrive when they feel safe to try.
Encourage decoding rather than guessing. Help your child sound out unfamiliar words carefully instead of guessing from pictures or context. Accurate decoding supports stronger long term word recognition.
Discuss characters, pictures, favourite parts, and predictions. This helps develop understanding and enjoyment.
Above all, try to keep reading time feeling warm and connected. Your child will remember how reading made them feel just as much as the words on the page.
Try using an electronic reader, such as a Kindle. Many offer features such as read along, larger text, and a choice of friendly fonts, including OpenDyslexic or Helvetica. While these features will not suit every child, many find they reduce visual strain and make reading a more positive experience.
If your child would benefit from a more structured approach, my Let’s Fly Reading Programme was designed specifically for parents to use at home. It is simple to follow, highly structured, and uses carefully sequenced activities and repetition to help children develop the skills and confidence they need to become successful readers.

Looking ahead

The National Year of Reading aims to celebrate reading as a joyful, meaningful, and enriching part of everyday life. We want every child to experience the comfort, connection, and opportunities that stories can bring, which is why supporting children who find reading more challenging is so important.

Children learn and develop in different ways and at different rates. Some will become fluent readers with time, repetition, and carefully targeted support. Others may communicate, learn, and enjoy stories in different ways, whether through shared reading, audiobooks, pictures, symbols, or assistive technology. Every child's journey is unique, and every step forward deserves to be celebrated.

By understanding the many skills involved in reading, recognising each child's individual strengths, and creating positive, supportive experiences around books and stories, we can help children develop confidence, curiosity, and a lifelong enjoyment of language.

Reading is not about getting there first. It is about opening doors to imagination, learning, and connection. However, a child experiences books and stories, what matters most is that they feel included, encouraged, and able to discover the joy that reading can bring.