Raising Flexible Readers: Why Challenge Is the Key to Reading Success

Have you ever watched your child struggle through a book and immediately wanted to swap it for something easier? You are not alone. As parents, our instinct is to remove the obstacle. But what if the struggle is actually the point?

Sometimes, as we see our kids struggle, we want to make the task easier. We think that if it is easier, our child will gain confidence and be more successful with the task. However, learning isn't always linear, and easier learning doesn't always lead to confidence.

Why Flexible Reading Matters

We don’t need to leave our kids to flounder, but we do need to help our kids learn to be flexible readers, writers, and spellers. Flexible reading means a child doesn’t just memorize one way to attack a word — they have a toolkit. They try a sound, notice it doesn’t quite fit, adjust, and try again. That back-and-forth process is not a sign of failure. It is reading. You may be thinking, but Miss Audrey, don’t we need to teach explicitly, follow a scope and sequence, and make sure my kid masters a level before moving on? I have to say yes and no.

As we help our kids become skilled readers, we want them to recognize the nuances of the English Code. We want them to see the different patterns and notice which part of the word is tricky, so they can get closer to saying the word more accurately. As we read more challenging texts or dive into unfamiliar subjects, we will have to be like an emerging reader, looking up words, checking pronunciation, and maybe even stumbling over a word a few times. It will be clunky at first, but with perseverance, you will have learned new ideas and words in an authentic way.

What Does Flexible Reading Look Like?

We need to help our kids see this. Imagine your child comes across the word “rough.” They might first try to say it to rhyme with “through,” then “dough,” and finally land on the correct pronunciation. That moment of trying, adjusting, and arriving — that is flexible reading in action. When our kids have flexible thinking, they can flex out a sound within a word to reach the actual word, understand morphology to support reading and spelling, notice the shift in pronunciation when prefixes and suffixes are added, and know when to ask for help.

Why We Don’t Teach to Mastery

If your child is struggling to learn to read and write, we need them to see more of the code. This is why we do not teach to mastery. Some kids will catch on to other parts of the code and struggle with the smaller words. When we move on, our kids will have the opportunity to read more words, build vocabulary, and practice reading the words they struggle with, because we see those words throughout texts, which gives an extra chance for interleaved practice.

The Problem With Teaching in Isolation

We don’t want to teach skills in isolation! Think about it this way: a child might be able to identify the “ou” pattern perfectly on a flashcard but freeze when they encounter it in the middle of a real sentence. That is because words don’t live on flashcards — they live in texts, stories, directions, and conversations. When we teach a skill in isolation and drill it until mastery, we are training recognition in a vacuum, not real reading.

The first reason to avoid isolation is that it will take a great deal of time, and it will be harder to see the transfer to reading outside the structured lesson. When we integrate subskills into activities, it can feel rocky at first, and it may seem like the teacher is doing all the work. But as we continue, kids can pick up the skills and apply them. This is why it is important to integrate reading, writing, and spelling in each lesson. The key is to give feedback and help kids practice reading each day. It is like compound interest; once they take off, they will be flying.

On the other hand, if you teach in isolation until mastery, this can take a long time, and with dyslexic and struggling readers, it can be treacherous because each time they go to a skill, it feels like starting at ground zero. Many of these kids don’t naturally make the connection and struggle to transfer skills to real books.

Once a child takes off in reading, we want to set targeted goals so they can continue to grow and mature as a reader and writer. Teaching reading doesn’t come with a clear formula, but it's about knowing the child, the goals, and the purpose, and helping kids develop those. We need to think beyond grade level or passing a test, but equipping kids to be skilled writers and readers. And being a flexible reader will make this possible.

Try This at Home

If you are teaching your child and they are struggling, here are a few practical ways to build flexibility right now:

- Word sorts: Sort words by the same sound with different spellings, or different sounds with the same spelling. This trains the brain to notice patterns rather than memorize in isolation.

- Prefix and suffix practice: Read words with suffixes and prefixes, pausing to notice how the pronunciation shifts. This builds morphological awareness naturally.

- Authentic texts: Have your child read a variety of real texts — books, magazines, recipes, or directions. The key is variety and volume. If they hit a tricky word, encourage them to flex the sound and try a few options to land on the correct one.

The goal isn’t perfection. It’s building the habit of noticing, trying, and adjusting — which is exactly what skilled readers do.

In my next article, I am going to discuss why it is important for our kids to learn to struggle and be uncomfortable in the early years, and why my beliefs shifted about play-based learning. I have seen that learning to read allows a certain amount of tenacity. We think that reading should be easy and come quickly, but, like any skill, it is messy and a rollercoaster. With perseverance and consistency, it becomes like riding a bike.