Read Not Guess: How to Help Your Child Become a Skilled Reader
Tools, strategies, and free resources for early reading success
This post will be a little different from my normal programming…
In January or February 2020, I thought my kid was learning how to read. He was in kindergarten at our local public school, and parents had been invited to a special celebration for the students to demonstrate their “reading superpowers.”
It turned out those “superpowers” were the guessing strategies known as “three cueing.” If the kids didn’t recognize a word, they were being taught to look at the pictures, look at the first letter of the word, and consider other context clues to figure out “what makes sense.”
I didn’t recognize this at the time, but the three-cueing strategies are very bad for beginning readers and have since been banned in several states. While three-cueing strategies may feel like shortcuts to help kids access more material, they actually teach kids to guess rather than decode. This masks reading difficulties and prevents them from developing the foundational skills needed for fluent reading.
But when the pandemic hit in March of that year, I didn’t know any of this. It took me a while to realize my son wasn’t actually reading. When he came to a word he didn’t recognize, he would take his eyes off the page and guess at what the word might be.
Needless to say, guessing is not reading. The best readers know how to decode letters into sounds and, with enough practice, do it so seamlessly that they probably don’t even notice it. Over time, with enough practice, readers essentially turn lots of words into sight words. But it all starts with decoding—not guessing or memorizing.
If you’re reading this, you’re probably a very skilled reader by now. But even with super long words, I bet you have to slow down to sound it out. Try “deoxyribonucleotide” or “psychopharmacology” or “neurodegenerative.” Well, beginning readers have to do this with a lot of words that they’ve never seen before, and the best reading programs teach kids explicitly how to build this skill.
The birth of Read Not Guess
Seeing this firsthand, I realized that many other families might be in the same boat. So after we helped our son get back on track and kick his guessing habit, I started getting deep into the “science of reading” literature. I wanted to translate that research and help other parents work with their kids on early reading skills, so I created a program called Read Not Guess.
Read Not Guess launched in the summer of 2022 and has since served over 6,000 families. It’s meant for parents to help their children build a strong foundation in phonics and to catch bad habits before they start.
All of the Read Not Guess programs are FREE and available here. There are different levels designed for readers at different skill levels. In my humble opinion, I think they’re a great summer activity for parents and caregivers who are looking for a way to help their child continue to make reading progress.
Throughout the years, I've read a lot of research about the key factors that help kids read, and if I had to summarize everything I've learned, I would boil it down to three key things: phonics, fluency, and vocabulary.
Phonics
Reading is a code, and kids need to know that the letter “m” makes the “mmm” sound. This is an essential building block, and if kids can't “decode” the words on the page, they'll struggle to read well.
For parents interested in helping their kids with phonics practice, I'd recommend:
Signing up for one of the Read Not Guess programs. They’re all FREE! We now have three levels on our site. Each lesson is meant to take only 5-10 minutes, and they're perfect for quick summer practice.
You can also follow along at your own pace.
For more practice to reinforce these basic phonics skills, I recommend the alphabet letter sounds flashcards from Nessy. They're free to print out (or you could make them yourself).
Fluency
Kids need a lot of practice blending sounds into words, building those words into sentences, and then reading those sentences with expression.
For this type of fluency practice, I'd recommend:
Having your child try reading the short syllable stories from Open Source Phonics.
The Read Not Guess “Daily Decodable” program is explicitly designed to get kids reading out loud. It's also FREE to sign up, or you can go through those lessons at your own pace here.
Have your child read to you, out loud, whenever you can. When I read to my kids, I would often have them read the first page (or first paragraph, or whatever was appropriate) to give them practice. I could also (gently) correct them on their pronunciation and fluency and hear when they were having trouble.
If you don't know what to listen for, use this simple fluency checklist from researcher Tim Rasinski.
Vocabulary
Even if a child is able to sound out the word “caterpillar,” they still need to be able to recognize the word and associate it with the little insects that can turn into pretty butterflies. Kids who know a lot of words and stuff about the world will have an easier time reading. So for vocabulary building, I would recommend:
Reading to your kids is obvious, but it really is a great way for them to access content and language they wouldn't be able to read on their own. Plus it's fun to try out different voices! (I know I’m dating myself here, but at different ages my kids loved Roald Dahl, the Magic Treehouse series, Mr. Lemoncello, and eventually Harry Potter.
For a more current list of good books for different ages and interests, check out the book recommendations from Imagination Soup.
If you haven't already discovered your local public library, use this search tool to find the one that's closest to you.
Audiobooks and podcasts can also be great tools for building vocabulary and developing the ability to follow a story. For younger kids, my kids loved the “Stories” podcast or “Are We There Yet?.” You can also try the the free celebrity read-alouds from Storyline Online.
Use big words whenever and wherever you can. Fancy synonyms, technical terms, jargon, proper nouns, it's all good. Sometimes parents have a tendency to dumb things down for their children, but this is your excuse to raise the bar. If you're taking a trip, have them read the map. Place names are funky and can be hard to pronounce. Ask open-ended questions, and then model good listening skills. Just find ways to get your kids talking and listening to longer, more complex, unfamiliar words.
If parents want to do even more, try to get your kids writing. Ask them to write about something--a book, a museum, or a movie perhaps--and ask them to answer questions about what happened, to whom, and why.
Most of all, enjoy it! Books and stories are windows into the world, and they’re pretty much the cheapest form of entertainment available. So happy reading (not guessing),
~Chad
What you have presented is basically the Science of Reading. I have taught learning-disabled students to read for several decades, and I have used intensive phonics; however, as soon as they were ready, I moved them to more linguistically informed texts. It is flawed in several respects due to its limitations and narrow focus on decoding. Reading comprehension is not adequately addressed, as it is often defined as the ability to identify words that are within the child's listening vocabulary. The words you used to demonstrate the need for decoding skills may be sounded out, but have no meaning to 90% of those who manage to pronounce them accurately. Linguistics is essential for comprehension. If reading is focused on single-word decoding, complex sentences will be difficult for children to comprehend. Tierney and Pearson have examined the Science of Reading and conclude that it is not yet a science.