Decoding Strategies: Helping Kids Unlock Reading
When a child is learning to read, one of the biggest hurdles is decoding. Decoding is the process of taking the letters on a page, connecting them to sounds, and turning them into spoken words. It’s the bridge between seeing print and understanding language. Without strong decoding skills, comprehension—and the joy of reading—becomes much harder.
Why decoding is so important
Reading is more than memorizing sight words or guessing from pictures. True reading comes from being able to break the code. Research shows that:
Children who master decoding early often go on to become confident, fluent readers.
Struggles with decoding make reading slow, frustrating, and draining, which gets in the way of comprehension.
Automatic decoding—reading words quickly and accurately—frees up the brain to focus on meaning, not just sounds.
In other words, decoding is not the end goal, but it’s an essential step toward comprehension and lifelong literacy.
What makes decoding hard?
For many children, especially those with dyslexia, decoding doesn’t come naturally. Kids may:
Have trouble hearing and pulling apart the sounds in words (phonemic awareness).
Struggle to connect sounds with letters (alphabetic principle).
Read slowly because word recognition isn’t automatic.
Mix up or skip over longer words because they can’t break them into syllables or parts.
These challenges don’t mean a child isn’t smart. In fact, children with dyslexia often have strengths in problem solving, creativity, and verbal reasoning. What they need is a different kind of teaching.
How Structured Literacy helps
This is where Structured Literacy comes in. Structured Literacy is an approach supported by decades of research, and it’s especially effective for children with dyslexia. It is:
Explicit – concepts are taught directly, not left to chance.
Systematic & sequential – skills build step by step, always reinforcing what was already learned.
Cumulative – new learning connects to old learning, so nothing stands alone.
Multimodal – lessons engage the visual, auditory, tactile, and kinesthetic channels together (sometimes called “multisensory”), which strengthens memory and makes learning stick.
For example, a child might:
See the letter b,
Say the /b/ sound aloud,
Trace it in sand or on a textured card,
Write it down while saying the sound.
This “all channels in, all channels out” approach is the foundation of Slingerland and other Structured Literacy methods.
Why early reading support matters
Research is clear: children who struggle with decoding in first grade are very likely to keep struggling later on. But the good news is that with early, targeted instruction, kids can make enormous progress. The earlier the support begins, the better.
What this means for your dyslexic child
If your child is having difficulty sounding out words, reading fluently, or remembering patterns, they may need Structured Literacy instruction. With the right teaching—explicit, systematic, and multimodal—children can learn to unlock the code of reading and discover the confidence that comes with it.
Decoding is the gateway to reading success. With the right approach, especially Structured Literacy methods like Slingerland, your child can strengthen decoding, build fluency, and develop the skills needed for lifelong learning.
