My child is a fourth grader, and his teacher told me in a conference the other day that he couldn’t read. How can I help him catch up?

Hello, Popular perceptions notwithstanding, rare indeed is the child who "can’t read" by fourth grade. While many fourth - graders certainly struggle with fourth-grade level reading material; they still may know a very great deal about reading. For example, they might be aware that print carries meaning; they might know the letters of the alphabet and many of the sounds those represent; they might know where on a page one begins reading and who to move from line to line; they might have a sizeable store of words they know by sight. The point here is that to help a child develop improve his or her reading abilities, you have to discover where the child is in the development of his or her reading skills and strategies. This requires a comprehensive, individualized reading assessment. Unfortunately, many schools lack the resources to implement such an assessment.  Let’s Go Learn, however, offers an online assessment, DORA, which will give you a complete assessment of your child’s reading abilities.