Can My Struggling Reader Take A Summer/Holiday Break?

Today, I was searching for a specialized program for one of my students. Nearly every tutoring service I explored emphasized the concept of the "summer slide" – a term describing a decline in learning over a break in school and learning. These services caution parents to invest in tutoring, asserting that without it, their child risks falling behind and may not be adequately prepared for the upcoming school year.  Research disagrees.

Yes, These programs share research that shows how students who don’t enter into tutoring programs to continue their learning will experience a loss in learning, which will effect them for years to come.  This is not true and is based on old research with old methods of data collection.

Like me, most of the families I work with LOVE to explore, on a global scale.  It doesn’t matter if it’s a long weekend or term break.  My years of experience and working with 100’s of struggling readers take this time to temporarily pause the daily and weekly reading sessions. 

For an older struggling reader, they come back into the reading sessions with a reading specialist:

• Distracted
• Lost confidence in their skill
• Falling back into old habits.

For older students, the pressure of social anxiety can exacerbate their struggles with reading. Falling behind in reading can lead to increased stress in math, writing, and throughout their entire school day. This is because much of the curriculum for older students relies heavily on reading to grasp the material. Teachers and society as a whole often assume that students are capable of reading independently to gather information. Unlike younger students, older readers are not taught basic reading strategies. Instead, they are taught how to utilize text to extract information, how to analyze, and how to think critically. However, if they struggle with reading fluency and comprehension, the challenge becomes more pronounced than in earlier years.

Newish research supports that learning isn’t gained or lost due to any ONE thing.  Research also suggests there are many different reasons, if there is learning loss, and the loss is not due to simply, having a holiday break.

Research does show breaking up momentum will slow their reading growth. So, yes.  A struggling reader who is not consistent and proactive when building reading skill will lose fluency and comprehension.  

My focus as a reading specialist has been on the older struggling reader.  Working with these struggling readers for so many years in so many countries has taught me this:  For weeks and months, they gain momentum and grow at a consistent rate- until they reach their goal.  However, when breaks happen and the momentum stops, that growth stops, and it takes longer to reach their goal.

I’ve been asked this:

Will my student lose fluency and comprehension if they:

1. Stop reading for the summer
2. Stop practicing the strategies they have learned, but aren’t yet independently using?
3. Don’t have anyone to motivate them to practice each day?

In my experience and after working through this issue a million times, I agree with the research.  YES…struggling reading students will lose ground and go back to school at least a month behind where they left off.  

“It’s Summer, I don’t want to push them…”  New research supports that, for most learners, this is a great strategy.  Enjoy, relax, live life…HOWEVER…A lot of tutoring programs still quote Old research supporting “summer slide” as teachers call it.  The data teachers are referring to, is from as far back as the 70’s and 80’s.   Even using the infamous “MAP” testing isn’t great data to determine the mythical “Summer slide”, as it leaves out key data, leaving quality reporting with many gaps to determine how and who are sliding.  In fact, a recent study of children who attended voluntary summer learning programs found that these programs resulted in modest short-term gains (Augustine et al., 2016). However, those gains dissipated by the next fall, and no benefits were observed related to language arts, social-emotional outcomes, student attendance, or grades during the school year. 

This research doesn’t touch on struggling readers.

For a student who is already struggling and behind their peers, an older student coming back to school with declined skills…well, this student will probably need extra support soon, in more than just reading (language arts).  Because in the older grades, math, science, and social studies are all about reading and doing something with the read information.  

Gaps are a lot harder to fill when the reader is older.

Keep this in mind.  Needing a reading specialist and a quick focused reading program that teaches phonics is NOT forever.  The goal is gain the right skills and become independent using them.  Nobody should have to remind them to “sound out the word” or “chunk the page”.  Just like all good readers, we do this without thinking about it, and so will they.

If you commit to seeing a quality program with a quality reading specialist through, there’s a very high probability that the student will be off and running and no longer need any supplemental reading in summers to follow.  One summer, one break, to change the rest of your reading life. 

How To Access Quality Summer Programs 

Other studies have found summer reading programs to be effective, particularly for struggling students (see Kim & Quinn, 2013, for a review), but these programs tend to be costly and often struggle to recruit and retain students and high-quality teachers. In addition, access to quality summer programs and reading specialists, or any programs, especially when you are an expat or homeschooling, can be non-existent, overwhelming, expensive, or inflexible.

One system some of my families use is a home-based summer reading programs, which typically involve mailing books to students during the summer, This has shown some promise as a more cost-effective intervention, however, even this framework is difficult when living abroad. (Quinn & Polikoff, 2017.) 

Summer should be relaxing, but taking an active approach to prevent learning break learning loss will set your child up for success in the upcoming year. 

Following are the top activities to maximize continued reading and to prevent skill loss:  

1. Research shows that reading consistently will prevent negative setbacks.  When choosing books, be sure that they are just right — not too hard and not too easy. If your child misses more than 5 words on a page, the book is too hard.  
2. Read together.  I’m sure you’ve heard this before, but it’s worth mentioning again!  Here are fun books you can read together: It's a series “I Read to You and You Read To Me”- If they are older, I’ve still got some great ideas.  During the last break, I made my 14 and 18 year old read 2 books with me about money and habits.  I had a digital copy and read along with them…like a mom and son book club!
3. There is a belief graphic novels are not “real” reading.  THEY ARE!
4. If you are abroad and don’t have access to books, reach out to me.  I can point you in some different directions.
5. Read something every day:  Driving in the car?  Read signs.  Going grocery shopping?  Have them (try) to read the ingredients in their favorite cereal or snack.  Give them words to look for, ie. green food coloring.  Making dinner?  Have them read you the recipe.  The list is endless!

If you are ready and want to explore systematic quality Orton-Gillingham style learning with a reading specialist, please reach out.  I’m here, even if you want ideas or want to explore reasons behind the struggle.

Don’t let your struggling reader fall further behind over the break! There are so many ways to incorporate reading while still having a fun-filled school break.

#expatliving