At Kip McGrath Gateshead East, we specialise in improving reading skills and comprehension. Starting with a reading age test to benchmark where your child is in their own reading skills and using the results of his reading age test, we create an individual learning plan to improve both his reading and comprehension skills.

There are potentially two issues when children like your son are having trouble with reading skills and comprehension.

1. Decoding

You don’t say how old your son is, but in the early years children should be learning high-frequency words like in, at, the, and, what, and when.

By the time he moves into Year 1 he should be learning phonics: short vowels, long vowels, consonants and consonant blends, controlled by the strong and silent magic letter ‘e’.

Once he grasps these early concepts, he will begin decoding the words he reads. If your son is struggling to decode effectively, he won’t understand what he’s reading.

Decoding is the term for sounding out letters and words. Matching letters to their sounds is an essential step in understanding what you’re reading. Decoding is the foundation for all other reading skills development

At Kip McGrath Gateshead East, we don’t move children onto the next concept until they have fully grasped each stage.

Only when we know for certain your son has taken in each concept will he move onto the next step in his reading. We make learning fun in a relaxed and friendly atmosphere, with individual support in small groups that children have proven to thrive in.

2. Comprehension

Now the links between decoding issues and comprehension skills become clearer. If this is your son’s issue, his individual learning plan will aim to help him overcome decoding problems.

Decoding is not the only reason children have trouble with comprehension skills. Other common cause of reading issues are dyslexia, ADHD and other types of disorders.

This is why we recommend you and your son come in and talk to us here at Kip McGrath Gateshead East. Once we understand why your son is struggling, we would be able to see how/if we could offer him any help.

Success in his reading skills will have a big impact on more than his school work. The work we do at Kip McGrath Gateshead East will help with his self-esteem, confidence and social skills. More importantly, we hope learning in fun ways, in our relaxed atmosphere will inspire his love of reading and learning.

Please call us on 0191 338 9556 or email us at  gatesheadeast@kip-mcgrath.com