Supporting reading comprehension: What parents and professionals need to know

Reading comprehension is one of the most important skills for academic success. It's a skill that can help us to continue to learn new information throughout our lives. On the other hand, kids who struggle to understand what they read are at a disadvantage when it comes to getting in school and beyond. When I worked in the school systems as a speech-language pathologist, a large portion of my caseload was referred to me because of language and literacy challenges.

Poor reading comprehension was often the red flag that resulted in those referrals. The challenge was knowing what to do for those students.

That's why in this episode, I aim to answer the question of "Whose job is it to support kids' reading comprehension skills?"
Specifically, I share:
✅The typical scope and sequence of reading instruction across K-12, and why some kids struggle with it.
✅The common causes of reading comprehension difficulties, and what schools and professionals typically do to address them.
✅What SLPs, teachers, and parents can do to work as a team in supporting reading comprehension. In this episode, I share my brand new presentation that walks through my framework I teach SLPs I mentor.

This process is designed to help professionals like SLPs give kids the foundational skills they need to support strong reading comprehension. I designed it with SLPs in mind, so if you're a speech pathologist supporting a K-12 caseload, it will give you a ton of clarity. If you're a teacher or a parent, you're welcome to check it out as well (or share with your child's speech pathologist). You can save your seat in this presentation here. The De Facto Leaders podcast was formerly the “Are they 18 yet?®” podcast. As of November 2022, the name of the show has changed, and we’ve shifted from a focus on parenting to a focus on supporting clinicians and educators to design effective services for kids (but parents are still welcome to listen). Episodes published before November 24, 2022 will still contain some of our old branding. 

We’re thrilled to be sponsored by IXL. 

IXL’s comprehensive teaching and learning platform for math, language arts, science, and social studies is accelerating achievement in 95 of the top 100 U.S. school districts. Loved by teachers and backed by independent research from Johns Hopkins University, IXL can help you do the following and more:

• Simplify and streamline technology
• Save teachers’ time
• Reliably meet Tier 1 standards
• Improve student performance on state assessments

🚀 Ready to see why leading districts trust IXL for their educational needs? Visit IXL.com/BE today to learn more about how IXL can elevate your school or district.