What the Science of Reading Means for Your Child

By Laura Lurns · Reviewed by Philip Weaver · Last reviewed 2026-10-30

What does "science of reading" mean?

You may hear the phrase science of reading at school or online.

We hold no definition of the phrase science of reading. In our view, it is best read as research on how children learn to read. In our view, it also covers the teaching built on it. It is not one program.

What the research we hold says, and where it stops

The federal guide. A federal guide on teaching reading gave its strongest rating to two things (Foorman and colleagues, 2016). One is teaching children to hear the sounds in words and link them to letters. The other is teaching them to sound out, spell and recognize words. The guide rated daily reading of real text, with feedback, as moderate. The guide also advises against teaching children to guess words from pictures or first letters.

In the guide, strong means several good studies leave little doubt. Moderate means good studies, but less sure the results hold in general.

The guide is for classroom teaching from kindergarten to third grade. It left out studies where most children had an identified disability. Its studies of sounding out words were all in schools. The guide says it might also apply to older students who need reading help. The guide builds on a national panel's report from 2000. It says newer studies back up the panel's findings.

The national panel. A national panel compared systematic phonics with other ways of teaching reading (National Reading Panel, 2000). Children taught phonics in a planned order did better than each kind of comparison group.

The debate. One researcher argues the phonics evidence is weaker than claimed (Bowers, 2020). We read his paper's summary and an early version of the paper. Others reply that the phonics evidence backs direct phonics teaching within a full approach (Fletcher, Savage and Vaughn, 2021). Both sides agree children need to learn how letters link to sounds. We do not pick a winner in this debate.

Structured literacy. The International Dyslexia Association uses the term structured literacy. It means teaching the sounds and spelling of the language directly, in a planned order. The association calls it an approach, not a program. It is the association's working definition, and the association takes a side in this debate.

Nothing in the studies on this page tested a Learning Success program.

Home. The federal guide had just one study where parents gave the teaching. That study is not evidence for any one home method.

Reading practice at home

In our view, home practice should match what your child is being taught. Here are some ideas.

1. Play with sounds by ear. Say a short word, like cat. Ask your child to say each sound in it.
2. Link the sounds to letters. Write the letters as your child says each sound. Then read the word together.
3. Let your child read to you. Pick a short book your child can mostly read. Listen.
4. Point back to the sounds. When your child misreads a word, point back to the sounds. Do not just say the word.
5. Match the teaching. Find out which letter sounds your child is learning now. Practice those.

Some of our steps borrow from the guide's classroom advice. In our view, they also suit home practice.

This list is our own practice, not a tested method.

Do these at home alongside your child's reading teaching, not in place of it.

How to tell how your child's school teaches reading

We cannot tell you what your child's school does. Only the school can. In our view, the simplest way to find out is to ask the teacher.

Here are some questions you could ask.

1. How are letter sounds taught, and in what order?
2. When my child is stuck on a word, what are they taught to do?
3. How do you check how my child is doing with sounding out words?
4. What extra help is there if my child struggles?
5. What could we practice at home to match the class?

These questions are our own, not a tested method.

You are not testing anyone. You are finding out what the teaching is. To us, these are fair questions a school can answer.

Where to go next

Our page on balanced and structured literacy covers both terms. Our page on phonics activities has more home ideas. So does our page on phonemic awareness activities. Does your child guess at words? See our page on a child who guesses at words. If you wonder about dyslexia, see our page on dyslexia or an instruction gap. Our page on reading programs explained covers programs.

When to ask for help

Each of these is a reason to ask for help on its own.

• Little change, even with steady practice and good teaching.
• Reading well below what school expects.
• A teacher who raises a concern about reading.
• Extreme upset about reading.
• Complete avoidance of reading.
• Hopelessness about learning.
• Sadness or worry that lasts.
• Significant delays in speech, language or motor development.
• A skill that was there and has gone. Our position is that a lost skill goes to a doctor first, not a tutor.

Start with the teacher. Say what you are seeing at home, and what you have tried. Beyond the teacher, the right person depends on what it turns out to be about. If the work is too hard, someone who works on that school skill. If worry or mood is the thing, someone who works with children's mental health. In our view, delays in speech, language or movement are worth raising with your child's doctor. In our view, if you are worried enough to ask, a professional evaluation is worth asking about.

Any talk of hurting themselves is a same-day call to your doctor or a crisis line.