Reading Comprehension Difficulties: 8 Signs Your Child Needs Help

Many students can read accurately but have difficulty understanding, retaining, and summarizing what they have read. Reading comprehension is essential for success in school, so identifying and addressing these challenges early is important. If your child is struggling with reading comprehension, working with a reading comprehension tutor in NYC can help them develop stronger reading skills and improve their self-confidence.

What Is Reading Comprehension?

Reading comprehension is the ability to read for understanding. Many families searching for reading tutoring in NYC may not realize that their child can have reading comprehension difficulties even when they read words accurately.

Strong reading comprehension skills enable children to identify key information, understand vocabulary, draw conclusions, determine the main idea of a passage, and answer questions about what they read. Reading comprehension involves a variety of skills working together, including:

• Decoding words accurately
• Reading with appropriate fluency
• Understanding vocabulary words
• Making inferences
• Grasping key details
• Synthesizing the main idea
• Applying information learned from text

A child with reading comprehension difficulties may struggle with one or several of these skills, which can make it hard for them to effectively grasp the material they are reading. According to the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP), many students struggle to read proficiently on grade level.

If your child struggles with reading comprehension, you might want to consider finding the right reading specialist in Manhattan to help build this skill. Learn more at What to Look for in a Reading Specialist in NYC- EBL Coaching.

Signs of Reading Comprehension Challenges

There are several signs that may suggest your child struggles with reading comprehension:

1. Your Child Can Read Words but Struggles to Explain What They Read

One of the most common reasons parents seek a reading specialist in NYC is that their child can read words accurately but struggles to explain what they have read.

To test this skill, have your child read a passage out loud to you and then ask them the following questions:

• What was the passage about?
• Who were the main characters?
• Where did the story take place?
• What was the main idea?
• Why do you think a particular event occurred?

If your child struggles to answer these questions, it may indicate that they are exerting so much effort into decoding words that little mental energy is left to process the information they are reading.

2. Trouble Answering Questions About Reading Assignments

Students who struggle with reading comprehension often have challenges answering questions about reading assignments, including:

• Direct questions from the passage
• Inferential questions
• Cause-and-effect scenarios
• Questions about predictions
• Questions that involve drawing conclusions

You may notice that your child can read a passage accurately but struggles with written responses, creating summaries, or performing well on reading tests.

Families who contact EBL Coaching for reading comprehension tutoring in NYC often indicate that they noticed these signs before seeking professional tutoring.

3. Difficulty Following Multi-Step Directions

Reading comprehension skills can affect many aspects of life beyond school. Children who have reading comprehension difficulties may also have trouble following rules and understanding directions at home.

For example, you might find that your child:

• Forgets steps when doing chores around the house
• Misinterprets directions
• Needs directions told to them multiple times
• Completes assignments incorrectly

4. Poor Vocabulary

Vocabulary can play a large role in reading comprehension. If your child regularly comes across words they don’t know the meaning of, they may struggle to understand the material they are reading.

Signs of a weak vocabulary include:

• Regularly asking for the meaning of words
• Using words incorrectly
• Avoiding reading complex books
• Experiencing challenges with grade-appropriate reading material

5. Trouble Identifying the Main Idea

Many students who struggle with reading can identify concrete details from the passage but have trouble grasping the overall main idea.

Your child may recall small details but has trouble explaining:

• The message author is trying to relay
• The main theme
• The author’s purpose in writing the passage

Challenges with identifying the main idea often become increasingly noticeable as students move through upper elementary school, into middle school, and beyond.

6. Reading Avoidance

Many students avoid tasks that they find to be challenging. Students who struggle with reading comprehension may avoid reading. Your child may do the following:

• Complain about reading homework
• Select books below their grade level
• Become easily distracted when reading
• Avoid reading for pleasure

Reading avoidance could indicate that reading comprehension is a challenge for your child.

7. Trouble Making Inferences

Students who excel at reading are usually able to combine information from the passage they read with their own background knowledge to make inferences.

Students with reading comprehension challenges often struggle to:

• Draw conclusions from information they read
• Explain why events may have occurred
• Grasp implied meanings
• Predict future scenarios

These higher-level comprehension skills become increasingly important as students progress through school and can significantly impact other subject areas.

8. Weak Performance Across Multiple Subjects

Some parents may think that reading comprehension only affects language arts. However, it plays a role in nearly every subject at school.
Students with reading comprehension challenges may struggle with:

• Science
• Social studies
• Languages
• Math, including problem solving
• Elective classes

Since learning information often depends on grasping new concepts, reading comprehension weaknesses can affect a child’s overall performance at school. If your child continues to struggle with their reading comprehension skills, you may want to have them evaluated for a possible learning disability.

Students with dyslexia, ADHD, and other learning disabilities often experience reading comprehension challenges. Learn more at Signs Your Child May Be Neurodivergent: ADHD, Dyslexia, And Autism – EBL Coaching.

Children who are receiving reading intervention in NYC often face challenges across multiple academic subjects.

What Causes Reading Comprehension Problems?

Reading comprehension challenges can have many causes, including:

Decoding Challenges

Students with dyslexia or other language-based learning disabilities may exert a great deal of effort decoding words; as a result, their comprehension of the material suffers. Some children may not have a diagnosed learning disability but still struggle with sounding out words.

Students seeking dyslexia tutoring in NYC often face reading comprehension challenges because so much mental energy is spent on decoding words. The Orton Gillingham approach is highly effective in developing students’ decoding skills.

Language Processing Weaknesses

Some children struggle with language processing, including understanding and organizing language. These weaknesses can make it challenging for them to understand complex sentences and paragraphs.

Limited Vocabulary

Students with a limited vocabulary may have difficulty understanding passages that become increasingly complex with higher level vocabulary words.

Attention Difficulties

Children who have attention challenges, including those with ADHD, may struggle to stay focused when reading. As a result, they may miss key information and have trouble comprehending what they read.

Executive Functioning Challenges

Executive functioning skills include planning, working memory, task completion, organization, and other related skills. Weak executive functioning skills can make it challenging for students to retain and process information when reading. Executive functioning coaching can help students build these key skills which can, in turn, help develop their reading comprehension skills.

Effective reading tutoring in Manhattan should utilize research-based, multi-sensory strategies to build your child’s reading comprehension skills. Learn more at Supporting Students with Reading Comprehension Issues | EBL Coaching.

Many parents looking for executive functioning coaching in NYC find that improving these skills can also strengthen their child’s reading comprehension skills.

How Reading Comprehension Difficulties Affect Self-Esteem

Students who consistently struggle to comprehend what they read may start to question their abilities.

They may make comments like:

• “I’m terrible at reading.”
• “I’m not smart.”
• “I can’t understand what I’m reading about.”
• “My friends are better readers than me.”

With continued struggles, these beliefs can negatively affect your child’s self-confidence, motivation, and overall academic achievement. However, reading comprehension skills can improve dramatically with the right specialized tutoring.

How Specialized Reading Tutoring Can Help

Effective reading tutoring in NYC should utilize research-based, multi-sensory strategies that address each student’s specific reading challenges.

Based on your child’s needs, the tutoring may include:

• Strengthening reading fluency
• Teaching active reading strategies
• Working on summarizing information
• Teaching students to highlight the topic, main idea, and important details using multi-colored highlighters
• Strengthening inferencing skills
• Building a broader vocabulary
• Strengthening executive functioning skills

Weak executive functioning skills can make it challenging for students to retain and process information when reading. Learn more at What Are Executive Functioning Skills? A Simple Guide for Parents – EBL Coaching.

With individualized, evidence-based tutoring, students can make significant progress in both their reading comprehension skills and their self-esteem.

When Should You Seek Help for Your Child?

You may want to explore specialized reading tutoring for your child if you notice they:

• Consistently struggle to comprehend what they read
• Struggle to perform well on reading comprehension tests
• Avoid reading for pleasure
• Slip below grade-level expectations
• Show signs of poor self-esteem related to reading

Early intervention with the right specialized tutoring can help your child develop their reading skills and prevent small challenges from becoming greater academic weaknesses.

Students with dyslexia often struggle with decoding words and reading fluency. Learn more about effective reading support at International Dyslexia Association – …until everyone can read!.

Why Parents Seek Reading Comprehension Tutoring in NYC

Many parents look for reading comprehension tutoring in NYC after noticing that their child can decode words well but struggle to understand what they read, complete their homework, or perform well on reading comprehension exams. Working with a reading specialist in NYC can help your child develop their reading comprehension skills using a targeted instructional plan.

Why NYC Students Often Need Reading Comprehension Support

Parents in New York City often notice their children are struggling to keep up with their increasingly demanding schoolwork, especially as the level of required reading increases. As students progress through school, strong reading comprehension skills become critical for success in essentially every subject.

Students who attend NYC public schools, private schools, parochial schools, and specialized schools are often expected to read complex texts, analyze information, create written responses, and complete standardized assessments that integrate extensive reading comprehension. When a student has difficulty comprehending what they read, it can affect their performance in English language arts, science, social studies, math word problems, and even elective classes.

Parents throughout New York City often seek specialized reading tutoring when they notice their child is:

• Struggling with reading comprehension tests
• Avoiding reading
• Falling below grade-level expectations
• Having trouble completing homework related to reading
• Becoming increasingly frustrated with schoolwork

Early remediation and individualized instruction can help students strengthen their reading comprehension skills and develop stronger self-confidence.

Reading Comprehension Tutoring in NYC at EBL Coaching

At EBL Coaching, we specialize in providing one-on-one individualized reading tutoring to students who struggle with all aspects of reading (including reading comprehension) using evidence-based, multi-sensory techniques that are customized to each student’s needs. We help students with dyslexia, ADHD, autism, specific learning disabilities, and general academic skills challenges.

For our tutoring in Manhattan, we begin by assessing each student’s strengths and weaknesses and then create an individualized instructional plan to develop the skill areas they need help with, including reading comprehension, fluency, decoding, vocabulary, and other academic skills.

Using evidence-based tutoring and individualized support, we have helped thousands of students develop the academic skills and self-confidence they need to become stronger, more effective readers.

Frequently Asked Questions about Reading Comprehension Tutoring in NYC

Can a child have strong decoding skills but weak reading comprehension?
Yes!  Some students can read words accurately but struggle to understand what they read. Many children exert a great deal of energy when reading words that they miss out on the overall gist of what they are reading.

Are reading comprehension problems a sign of dyslexia?
Reading comprehension problems can be a sign of dyslexia, but that’s not always the case. Students with dyslexia often struggle with decoding words and reading fluently. Comprehension difficulties can also be a result of language processing challenges, ADHD, poor executive functioning skills, or a weak vocabulary.

What age should parents become concerned about reading comprehension?
There is no specific age when you should become concerned about reading comprehension struggles, as every child is different. However, if you notice that your child is consistently struggling to understand what they read, you may want to explore specialized reading tutoring.

Can reading comprehension improve with tutoring?
Yes, absolutely! Evidence-based reading tutoring that is individualized to your child’s areas of weakness, including reading fluency, vocabulary, comprehension and other related skill areas, can help your child make significant gains in their reading comprehension abilities.

How can I tell if my child needs a reading tutor?
If you notice that your child consistently has difficulties answering reading comprehension questions, avoids reading, falls behind peers academically, or is becoming increasingly frustrated when reading, you may want to explore specialized reading support for them.

How Can I Find a Reading Comprehension Tutor in NYC?
When looking for a reading comprehension tutor in NYC, try to find someone who specializes in helping students specifically develop their reading comprehension skills – not someone who just specializes in decoding or reading fluency. Look for a tutor who uses research-based methods, conducts an initial assessment to gauge your child’s strengths and weaknesses, and develops an individualized tutoring plan prior to the start of sessions.

What Should I Look for in a Reading Specialist in NYC?
When searching for a reading specialist in NYC, look for a tutor who specializes in evidence-based reading instruction and has extensive experience working with neurodiverse students, including those who have reading difficulties, dyslexia, ADHD, autism, and other learning disabilities. The right reading specialist should address your child’s reading skills using an individualized instructional plan. It is also important to choose a reading tutor who uses research-based, multi-sensory techniques and regularly monitors your child’s progress to ensure they are consistently improving.

Dr. Emily Levy, the founder and director of EBL Coaching, has helped thousands of students build their reading skills over the past twenty years using research-based, multi-sensory techniques. She is the author of the Strategies for Study Success student workbook series, the Flags and Stars Orton Gillingham student workbook program, and the Flags and Stars Multi-Sensory Math student workbook series. She speaks nationally at educational conferences and frequently appears on podcasts as an educational expert. She has also been featured in publications including Newsweek, Autism Advocate Parenting Magazine, Epoch Times, and Macaroni Kids.