For many parents, watching their child learn to read is an exciting milestone. As children become more confident sounding out words and reading sentences, it's natural to assume that understanding what they're reading will follow.
However, some children can read a passage accurately and fluently but struggle to explain what it was about, answer questions or recall important details.
This can be confusing for parents, particularly when their child's reading sounds perfectly fine.
The reason is that reading words and understanding what those words mean are two different skills. While both are essential for successful reading, they rely on different underlying abilities.
Understanding why a child may struggle with reading comprehension can help parents recognise when additional support may be beneficial.
1. Reading Words and Understanding Words Are Different Skills
Successful reading involves two important components: decoding and language comprehension.
Decoding is the ability to recognise written words by connecting letters to their corresponding speech sounds. As children become more skilled readers, they begin recognising familiar words automatically.
Language comprehension, on the other hand, involves understanding the meaning of words, sentences and spoken or written information.
A child may have strong decoding skills and read a passage accurately, but still struggle to understand what the text is communicating.
For example, a child might read the sentence, "Despite the approaching storm, the hikers continued their journey," without making any reading errors.
However, they may not understand what despite means or recognise that the hikers are continuing even though the weather is becoming dangerous.
This highlights why accurate word reading doesn't automatically mean a child has understood what they've read.
2. Vocabulary Plays an Important Role in Reading Comprehension
Vocabulary knowledge is one of the foundations of reading comprehension.
When children encounter unfamiliar words in a text, understanding the overall meaning becomes more difficult, even if they can decode every word correctly.
For example, consider the sentence:
"The exhausted traveller sought refuge beneath the enormous oak tree."
A child may be able to read this sentence fluently but struggle to understand it if they don't know the meanings of exhausted, sought or refuge.
The more unfamiliar vocabulary a text contains, the harder it becomes to follow the story or understand the information being presented.
Parents can support vocabulary development by:
- Explaining unfamiliar words during shared reading.
- Using new vocabulary in everyday conversations.
- Discussing words with similar or opposite meanings.
- Encouraging children to use newly learned words in their own sentences.
Developing a broad vocabulary helps children make sense of increasingly complex texts as they progress through school.
3. Background Knowledge Helps Children Make Meaning
Reading comprehension also depends on what a child already knows about the world.
When children read, they constantly connect new information to their existing knowledge and experiences. These connections help them understand unfamiliar situations, interpret information and make predictions.
For example, a story about a camping trip may be easier to understand for a child who has been camping before or has learned about tents, campfires and outdoor activities.
A child with limited knowledge of these experiences may need additional explanations to fully understand the story.
This is particularly important as children progress through school and begin reading more complex texts about science, history, geography and other unfamiliar topics.
Building background knowledge through conversation, experiences and exposure to different subjects can significantly support reading comprehension.
Activities such as visiting museums, discussing documentaries, exploring new places and reading nonfiction books together can all help children develop the knowledge they need to understand what they read.
4. Language Difficulties Can Affect Reading Comprehension
Reading comprehension involves much more than understanding individual words.
Children also need to interpret sentence structures, connect ideas, make inferences and understand information that isn't explicitly stated.
Some children experience difficulties with these underlying language skills, which can affect their ability to understand written texts.
Common areas of difficulty include:
- Sentence structure: Understanding longer or more complex sentences, particularly those containing multiple ideas.
- Making inferences: Using clues from the text and existing knowledge to understand information that isn't directly stated.
- Pronouns: Recognising who words such as he, she, they or it are referring to.
- Sequencing: Understanding the order in which events occur and how they relate to one another.
- Implied meaning: Recognising characters' feelings, motivations or intentions when these aren't explicitly explained.
For example, consider the sentence:
"Sophie grabbed her umbrella before leaving the house."
The text doesn't explicitly say that it's raining or that Sophie expects rain. However, readers are expected to use their background knowledge to make this inference.
A child who struggles with inferencing may understand the individual words but have difficulty explaining why Sophie needed an umbrella.
These language skills are important for both spoken and written comprehension, which is why some children may also experience difficulties following verbal explanations, understanding stories read aloud or answering questions in conversation.
5. How Parents Can Support Reading Comprehension at Home
Supporting reading comprehension doesn't need to involve worksheets or lengthy reading exercises.
Some of the most effective opportunities occur during everyday conversations and shared reading experiences.
Here are a few simple strategies parents can try.
Pause and discuss the story
Rather than waiting until the end of a book, pause occasionally to talk about what's happening.
Ask questions such as, "What do you think is happening here?" or "Why do you think the character did that?"
This encourages children to actively think about the meaning of the text rather than simply reading the words.
Encourage predictions and inferences
Ask questions that require your child to think beyond the information explicitly provided.
For example:
- "What do you think might happen next?"
- "How do you think that character is feeling?"
- "What clues helped you work that out?"
- "Why do you think they made that decision?"
These questions help children practise connecting information, drawing conclusions and using evidence from the story.
Explain unfamiliar vocabulary
When your child encounters a word they don't understand, briefly explain its meaning using child-friendly language.
You can also provide examples or connect the word to something familiar.
For example, if a character is described as reluctant, you might explain that it means not really wanting to do something, then discuss a time your child may have felt reluctant themselves.
Talk about stories rather than testing recall
It's easy for shared reading to become a series of questions designed to check whether a child remembers what happened.
While recalling information is important, comprehension involves much more than remembering facts.
Instead, encourage natural conversations about the story. Share your own thoughts, discuss interesting events and connect what you're reading to your child's experiences.
This helps make reading a meaningful and enjoyable activity while developing important language skills.
When Should Parents Seek Additional Support?
Some children occasionally struggle to understand unfamiliar or challenging texts, particularly when they contain complex vocabulary or concepts.
However, if your child consistently reads words accurately but has difficulty explaining what they've read, answering comprehension questions or understanding stories, further assessment may be beneficial.
A speech pathologist can help identify whether underlying language difficulties are contributing to reading comprehension challenges.
Assessment may explore areas such as vocabulary, sentence comprehension, inferencing, narrative skills and other aspects of oral language that support successful reading.
Understanding which skills are causing difficulty allows intervention to be targeted towards your child's individual needs.
Supporting Reading Comprehension Development
Learning to read involves more than recognising words on a page. Children also need the vocabulary, language skills and background knowledge required to understand and interpret what they're reading.
For some children, decoding develops more easily than comprehension, meaning their reading ability may appear stronger than their actual understanding.
At Lindsay Fordham Literacy and Speech Therapy, we recognise the important relationship between oral language and literacy development. Through comprehensive assessment and targeted intervention, we support children in developing the skills they need to become confident, capable readers.
Reading the words is only one part of the process. Understanding their meaning is what allows children to truly engage with stories, learn new information and become independent readers.