Transform Summer Reading and Writing: 5 Powerful Strategies to Empower Your Child's Confidence
- Rita Santos
- Jun 8
- 5 min read
If your child struggles with reading because of dyslexia, ADHD, or some other reason, they probably spend a lot of time comparing themself to their classmates. They watch classmates finish assignments more quickly. They hear other students read effortlessly. They know who reads books from the different reading tubs based upon reading levels.
Little by little these comparisons affect their motivation, willingness to take risks, and self-esteem.
Comparison weakens confidence.
Summer allows your child to feel less pressure because there are no grades, tests, reading groups… no classroom comparisons.
They have an opportunity to experience reading differently.
What Reading and Writing Confidence Really Means
Confidence is believing that you can work through challenges and eventually be successful.
Confidence is developed through repeated experiences of success.
Because I’m often asked by parents how they can help their child avoid the “summer slide,” here are 5 strategies to increase your child’s confidence in their reading and writing ability this summer.
1. Let Interests Lead
One of the quickest ways to create resistance to reading is to insist that your child read books they find boring.
On the other hand, summer is the perfect time to follow your child's interests rather than having them reading just the books on a school reading list.
Letting your child choose what to read boosts motivation, which in turn, increases attention, persistence, and willingness to work through challenging words.
In addition to reading novels, your child can read about topics that appeal to them: sharks, sports, Minecraft, animals, weather, cars, airplanes, their favorite hobby, etc.
Think about the movies, television shows, and characters your child already enjoys. Many popular movies were originally books, and reading a story after seeing the movie can be much less intimidating because your child already knows the characters, setting, and basic plot. Familiarity allows them to focus more on reading and less on trying to figure out what is happening in the story.
Likewise, if your child loves Star Wars, Pokémon, Minecraft, Marvel superheroes, Disney characters, or other favorite franchises, there are countless companion books available for a wide range of reading levels. These books often tap into a child's existing interests and enthusiasm, making them far more likely to pick up a book voluntarily.
2. Read Together
Many parents assume that reading practice — whether during the school year or in the summer — means handing their child a book and expecting them to read independently. For struggling readers, this often leads to frustration, avoidance, or guessing.
Your child is never too old to read aloud to or with.
Reading together allows children to access material that may be above their independent reading ability while still practicing important reading skills like accuracy and fluency.
You might:
Read alternate paragraphs
Take turns reading pages
Read dialogue while your child reads the narration
If your child finds a section of text difficult, read it back to them while they “follow along with their eyes” and then have them read it to you again. Their second attempt will likely be much more accurate and fluent than the first one — an immediate confidence booster!
Shared reading also creates opportunities for conversation. Ask your child questions about characters, have them make predictions about what might happen next in the story, or recall interesting facts from non-fiction text.
Most importantly, reading together keeps reading enjoyable. The goal is not to see how much your child can do without help. The goal is to create successful reading experiences that build skill and confidence.
3. Keep Corrections Supportive
Reading without your or another adult’s support often means your child is continuing to practice mistakes.
Guessing and skipping words are the behaviors struggling readers with dyslexia and ADHD most often engage in, and they have a huge impact on comprehension.
Many public libraries have summer reading programs that give awards for the number of books or minutes read. While I’m in favor of any reason to visit the library, these programs inadvertently make reading about quantity, not quality.
Therefore, it’s important that you are ensuring your child comprehends what they have read — the true goal of reading — even if they read the text accurately and fluently.
When your child encounters a difficult word, provide help quickly. Struggling through a word for several minutes or repeatedly guessing does not improve reading.
To provide support to your child while reading:
ask what other sound the spelling could represent or supply an unknown sound when needed
have your child repeat the sound while looking at the spelling
return to the beginning of the word
have your child say the sounds from left to right and blend them together
Multi-syllable words tend to encourage guessing because their size and perceived complexity contributes to overwhelm.
To help reading multi-syllable words:
remind your child that each syllable must have a vowel spelling
have them look for vowel spellings to break apart the word; it doesn’t have to be divided according to dictionary rules
say each sound in the syllable and then blend the sounds together
if your child struggles with remembering the sounds within a syllable or blending them together, follow the above steps
repeat the process for the next syllable, then go back to the first syllable and thread it with the first one
repeat the process for each syllable
if your child forgets the previous syllable(s), tell them to “put [syllable 1] with [syllable 2]”
To help with spelling:
make sure your child says each sounds as they write its spelling
break apart multi-syllable words and write and say the sounds syllable by syllable
provide support immediately when a sound is omitted or a spelling does not represent the intended sound
have your child rewrite the word correctly while saying each sound one at a time.
Immediate and supportive corrections prevent frustration and help children experience success.
4. Make Reading and Writing a Natural Part of the Day
Many parents think literacy practice requires special lessons or workbooks. I
n reality, some of the most valuable reading and writing experiences happen during everyday activities.
Reading Opportunities
Invite your child to read:
Restaurant menus
Recipes while cooking
Sports articles
Weather reports
Websites about favorite topics
Graphic novels
Hobby magazines
Instructions for games
Lego building directions
Maps and travel guides
Signs while traveling
Product labels at the grocery store
These activities show children that reading has a purpose beyond school assignments.
Writing Opportunities
Encourage your child to write:
Vacation journal entries
Grocery lists
Packing lists
Back-to-school supplies lists
Thank-you notes
Letters or emails to family members and friends
Letters to favorite authors —children’s authors love to receive fan mail and they write back!
Summer bucket lists
Movie or book reviews
Daily plans
Captions for vacation photos
An alternate ending to a book
Writing does not need to be lengthy. Even a few sentences several times each week helps maintain spelling, sentence construction, and language skills.
5. Use Audiobooks
Audiobooks are one of my favorite summer tools because they allow children to experience rich language and engaging stories without being limited by their current reading ability.
When children listen to books, they are exposed to:
New vocabulary
More complex sentence structures
Background knowledge
Story structure
Fluent reading
Audiobooks are especially powerful when paired with a printed copy of the book. As your child listens, have them to follow along with the text. This allows them to connect spoken language to written words while reducing the cognitive load that can come from decoding every word independently.
As an added benefit, audiobooks often increase a child's interest in books and reading in general.
Summer Reading and Writing Improves Confidence
Confident readers are more willing to read, attempt challenging books, and persist when reading becomes difficult.
Summer reading and writing will not erase every challenge your child faces, but it can provide something equally important: the opportunity to stop the comparisons.
That is exactly what a struggling reader needs.
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