12 Literacy Strategies for Struggling Readers
reviewed by Marvi M. Andres
Updated on February 16, 2026
Many children fail to achieve the literacy level and reading mastery expected for their grade. They read slowly, skip letters, miss syllables, and struggle to connect sounds or understand what they read. This article provides 12 proven, research-based literacy strategies that parents can easily apply at home to support their children.
Key points:
- Teaching phonics, phonological awareness, fluency, reading comprehension, guided reading, and independent reading are effective literacy instruction strategies that work at home.
- Making use of graphic organizers, vocabulary exercises, fluency practice, and shared reading are equally crucial for teaching literacy to struggling readers.
- Professional online support, such as Brighterly’s 1:1 reading tutoring, further helps parents develop their children’s literacy.
How to improve the literacy skills of elementary students?
To improve the literacy skills of elementary students, consistent support is necessary. Yet parents often can’t handle the challenge alone, and schools rarely provide an individual approach. That’s why using evidence-based literacy strategies that guide a child’s development is essential to help them progress at their own pace.
Literacy – the ability to read and write – plays a huge role in a person’s life. However, the 2025 research conducted on the basis of the National University found that 54% of US adults read below a 6th-grade level, and 21% are functionally illiterate (they cannot perform basic reading tasks). These numbers show why helping a child improve literacy as early as possible is a top priority. Literacy strategies implemented from an early age are essential for laying the foundation for critical thinking, curiosity, and lifelong success.
What is an essential literacy strategy definition?
Essential literacy strategies are practical methods that systematically teach kids the skills necessary to read, write, and comprehend text.
- Literacy strategies for reading (understanding) include phonics, phonological awareness, fluency practice, vocabulary building, and comprehension techniques.
- Literacy strategies for writing (composition) focus on integrating writing into reading activities, teaching kids to connect the words they read with the words they create.
What are the 5 basic literacy skills?
The 5 basic literacy skills that every child needs to develop for effective reading are phonics, phonemic awareness, vocabulary, fluency, and comprehension. Also referred to as key reading skills, they were first defined by the National Reading Panel in 2020 after 30 years of social research studies on what it takes to become a good reader.
These fundamental skills outline what parents and educators need to emphasize in their work with younger readers. They need to be incorporated into essential literacy strategy examples to help improve reading speed and comprehension.
What are essential literacy strategies?
- Professional online instructions
- Phonics instruction
- Phonological awareness activities
- Building vocabulary
- Fluency practices
- Reading comprehension techniques
- Graphic organizers
- Guided reading
- Shared reading
- Independent reading
- Writing integration
- Parental involvement and support
Professional online instructions
Professional online instruction gives your child the personal attention that schools can’t always provide, and you might not have the necessary qualifications to offer. Skilled tutors build on prior knowledge and acquired information and fill in learning gaps. Regular progress monitoring keeps your child on track and you – informed about next steps.
How to improve literacy skills with Brighterly tutors?
The Brighterly math and reading platform helps improve literacy skills by applying an award-winning curriculum aligned with the US standards and personalized to each child’s requirements. After a detailed evaluation, your child receives a customized learning plan with reading materials that match their needs and interests. All sessions are held 1:1, at convenient times.
To appeal to young learners, the Brighterly reading program uses gamification, and each lesson is tailored to your kid’s style. Meanwhile, it teaches both foundations for struggling readers and advanced skills for those ahead of grade level.
All reading tutors are professional, experienced, yet fun English Language Arts (ELA) teachers. They are trained in pedagogy to understand diverse learning styles and adjust their instructional methods accordingly.
Brighterly pricing starts at $17.30 for a 12-month membership with a 20% discount. But before that, you can give your child grade-appropriate reading tests to evaluate their level.
Phonics instruction
Phonics instructions teach kids how letters and sounds connect to form words. When children understand how sounds map to print, they can decode and spell new words, making reading easier.
“An effective and reasonable reading routine should be short, specific, and aligned to how children learn to read.”
This technique works best when it’s multisensory (involving touch, sight, sound, and movement) and interactive.
For example, you might let your child trace letters in sand while saying the sound aloud (simultaneously working on fine motor skills. Or you can use magnetic letters to build simple words together. These multisensory experiences make learning stick and help struggling readers improve literacy skills.
Phonological awareness activities
Phonological awareness activities teach children to hear and play with the sounds in words. Think rhyming games, clapping out syllables, or finding words that start with the same sound. These simple strategies for teaching literacy strengthen sound recognition. You can turn it into a competition between you and your child, who will find more words rhyming with an object around or sing rhyming songs.
“I find that phonological awareness is the missing piece when children struggle with literacy.”
Use phonological activities from Brighterly worksheets
Brighterly offers free reading worksheets as support materials for phonological training. You can choose from phonics worksheets, CVCE worksheets, rhyming worksheets, and many more. Choose a topic and print the worksheet to use during reading sessions at home.
These practice sheets are designed to match the US school program, so you can use them to master public school expectations or homeschool.
Building vocabulary
The bigger their word bank, the easier children understand what they read. So, you should bring your kid’s attention to new words while reading, ask questions, and play word games such as “Guess the Word.”
Note: Build vocabulary by using new words in daily talk. If your child learns the word ‘brilliant’, try saying, “That’s a brilliant idea!” In this way, kids remember words and improve literacy skills naturally through real-life use.
Fluency practice
Fluency practice builds smooth and expressive reading skills, while slow reading can make comprehension harder. To help your kid become more fluent, read aloud together, take turns, or even record yourselves and listen. Additionally, repeating texts helps words stick. These literacy strategies for reading focus kids on meaning rather than decoding.
Reading comprehension techniques
Reading comprehension refers to understanding what you read. An effective reading comprehension strategy is to encourage your child to predict what happens next, summarize a story, or draw what they read. These literacy strategy examples help kids engage with text and comprehend it.
Note: According to Dr. Timothy Rasinski, an expert on literacy education, fluency is the missing link between phonics and comprehension. So, you should work on enhancing your child’s reading fluency before jumping into comprehension.
Graphic organizers
Graphic organizers, such as story maps, Venn diagrams, and charts, help structure ideas. Kids can track characters, settings, and events using these tools. You can use graphic organizers together with other reading strategies for struggling readers to improve results.
Note: Venn diagrams are particularly helpful for improving literacy as they allow kids to compare and contrast diverse elements, visualizing what’s unique and what overlaps in different stories.
Guided reading
Guided reading means working with your child on short texts that match their level. Choose an appropriate book and sit together in a pair to read aloud, pausing to discuss what’s happening in the story, the setting, the characters, and how they feel. This literacy strategy can help boost skills without tears while you share precious time together.
Shared reading
Shared reading means reading a book together. You read aloud while your little one follows the words on the page. They can join in on favorite lines or repeated phrases. This structure is one of the most effective literacy teaching strategies for really small kids because it shows children how good reading sounds.
Independent reading
Independent reading means letting your child read on their own, with books they choose. This essential literacy strategy strengthens focus, vocabulary, and fluency, turning reading into something your child looks forward to every day.
Create a cozy reading corner at home and keep a small selection of books within reach. Occasionally, add new titles and authors to keep things exciting. Start with ten minutes a day and slowly increase the time as your kid moves into middle school. If your child stumbles on a word, give them time to figure it out. The purpose is to build a habit, not perfection.
Writing integration
Reading and writing grow together. Handwriting helps children understand what they read, remember new words, and express their own thoughts. So, another answer to the popular question of how to improve literacy skills is to combine these two elements.
After reading a story, ask your child to write a few sentences. They can retell their favorite part, change the ending, or write a letter to a character.
Parental involvement and support
Parents’ encouragement is vital. Research by psychologist Puneet Bains highlights the crucial role that parental involvement plays in literacy development, especially early in life. Active teaching literacy strategies can include reading together with your child, chatting about stories, and working on vocabulary build-up.
What are the 5 literacy practices?
The 5 early literacy practices are talking, singing, reading, writing, and playing. These are also called Every Child Ready to Read practices, as they help children build the main skills they need to learn how to read. These literacy practices examples are applied to children between birth and age 5 by parents and caretakers.
What this means is that working on how to teach literacy to your child starts much before kindergarten or 1st grade. It begins as soon as they are born. By talking to them, you introduce them to text and comprehension. When you sing, you offer language at a slower pace, teaching your kid their first words. When you read together, your child learns the letters and begins to associate reading with positive emotions. With scribbling and writing, a youngster understands that print is associated with words and has a meaning. Finally, through play, kids learn to express ideas and develop narratives.
Conclusion: Teaching literacy to your kid effectively
All kids learn to read at their own pace. If your child struggles, give them all the support you can. If you practice some of these actionable 12 literacy strategies, your child will be able to gain skills and build confidence faster. And remember that seeking professional help usually works.
The Brighterly reading program gives your family:
✅ Experienced reading teachers
✅ 1:1 lessons tailored to the unique needs and interests of your little reader
✅ Free reading materials to support other strategies for teaching literacy that your family practices
Ready to test personalized reading learning? Book free reading lesson now to test whether 1:1 tutoring works for your child.
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