Unlocking the Secrets of Productive Struggle in Reading

Learning to crawl takes determination and practice. The same is true for learning to read.

Think back to when your child was first learning to crawl.  If they were anything like my kids they

rocked on all fours, stretched toward a toy that was out of reach, and even army crawled on their tummies.

They were frustrated and they cried… and then they tried again.  Then one day it all came together and they were crawling.

Reading works the same way.

When your child is learning to read, those moments of frustration — breaking apart a word into sounds, mispronouncing a word, or getting stuck on the same word sentence after sentence — are like those first wobbly crawl attempts. They’re signs that growth is happening.

That trial and error and persistence is called productive struggle.

What Is Productive Struggle?

Productive struggle is the sweet spot between too easy and too hard.

It’s when a child works just beyond what they can already do, grappling with challenge but not giving up. In that space, new neural connections form.

Learning sticks because the brain has to work for it — just like muscles grow stronger after lifting slightly heavier weights.

The Role of the Teachers, Tutors, and Parents

Imagine if someone picked up a baby every time they tried and failed to crawl and carried them instead. They’d never build the strength or coordination to succeed.

When it comes to reading, rescuing a child too quickly — saying the word for them, over-prompting, or jumping in with “sound it out!” — can unintentionally rob them of that same learning opportunity.

Our job isn’t to remove all struggle; it’s to scaffold it - to provide support initially and then gradually remove it — as learning, mastery, and independence are achieved.

What Productive Struggle Looks Like in Reading

In tutoring  sessions I model, coach, and guide — but I let your child do the thinking work.

Just as we let babies wobble their way toward walking, I let readers wobble their way toward reading independence when they:

To an outside observer, it might look like struggling.

But inside the brain, connections are firing, mapping, and solidifying.

That’s how decoding becomes fluent reading — not through

memorization or guessing, but through effort and correction.

Gabrieli, John. (2009). Dyslexia: A New Synergy Between Education and Cognitive Neuroscience. Science (New York, N.Y.). 325. 280-3. 10.1126/science.1171999.

How to Support Productive Struggle at Home

Here’s how you can help your child crawl their way toward confident reading:

1. Praise effort, not perfection.

   “I love how you kept trying that word!” reinforces persistence.

2. Wait a beat before helping.

   Give your child time to think and problem-solve.

3. Normalize mistakes.

   “Everyone’s brain learns by making errors — that’s how it grows stronger.”

4. Encourage “say as your write.”

   Linking multiple senses deepens learning — much like how crawling coordinates arms and legs.

5. Celebrate progress, no matter how small.

   Each “aha” moment is another crawl forward.

The Takeaway

Rocking back and forth isn’t wasted time before crawling — it’s the foundation that makes crawling possible.

In the same way, the productive struggle your child experiences while learning to read is not a setback; it’s the very path forward.

When we honor the process, not just the outcome, we give our children what they truly need: the confidence to keep trying — and the joy of realizing, “I did it myself.”