05/06/2026
Good readers do not guess, they decode. So if your school-age child reads a word by glancing at the picture or just the first letter, that habit can feel clever at first, but it runs out fast as books get harder.
Here is the part that surprises a lot of parents. Children do not soak up reading the way they soak up talking. Reading has to be taught, step by step. It starts with hearing the separate sounds inside words, then learning which letters make which sounds, then blending those sounds together. That blending, left to right, is called decoding, and it is the engine that lets a child read words they have never seen before.
With enough practice, the brain files each decoded word away for instant recall. That is why fluent readers look so fast. They are not guessing or memorising word shapes, they built each word through sound and then stored it.
Save this for the school years, and send it to a parent whose child is learning to read.