Parents are worried. If their young child is confined to learning from home during the coronavirus pandemic, they worry about what that child is missing without in-person, structured reading instruction.

But the panelists at Higher Ed Works’ webinar on third-grade reading – all parents themselves – offered fellow parents words of encouragement and some tips about how to help young children learn to read at home.

Dr. Sandra Soliday Hong, a research scientist at the Frank Porter Graham Child Development Institute at UNC-Chapel Hill, said it helped her to realize her child certainly isn’t the only one who might develop a deficit during the pandemic. Rather, it’s an entire cohort of children.

“It’s not me…. It’s not my child who’s failing,” Soliday Hong said. “It’s that we collectively are going through a very difficult period in history, and that we will get through it together.”

Dr. Anthony Graham, Provost at Winston-Salem State University, said he recently offered a list of instructional resources to a parent.

“One thing at a time, please,” she responded. “Just one thing at a time.”

Graham said that should be a lesson for everyone confronting the pandemic. “One thing at a time,” he said. “Let’s not overwhelm ourselves as we try to work through these challenges.”

Dr. Mary Brascht-Hines, also a research scientist at Frank Porter Graham, said parents need to act as advocates for their kids and let schools know when a teaching technique doesn’t seem to work – otherwise school officials won’t know. 

But the feedback should also include letting schools know when techniques do work, she said.

THE PANELISTS also shared some techniques, some of which they’ve used with their own children:

Soliday Hong said she had synched her children’s tablets with audio books so that they can hear the sounds of words as they read. They’ve also enjoyed Hooked on Phonics and Handwriting Without Tears. Or for a less technological approach, reading together is something both kids and parents can enjoy.

Graham suggested parents take their children on walks in the neighborhood or a park and talk or write about what they see – in the process, children build their vocabulary. “Just engage with what you see around you,” he said.

And Brascht-Hines reminded parents not to forget offerings from local libraries. She also suggested the Targeted Reading Instruction YouTube channel, which walks a child through critical early stages of learning to read.

FOR PARENTS looking for online resources to help their child with reading, the panelists shared a list:

• Targeted Reading Instruction YouTube Channel:  https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCslzFfYwunOmb-RM5OkjOKw 
• Hooked on Phonics: https://www.hookedonphonics.com/ 
• Handwriting Without Tears: https://www.lwtears.com/hwt 
• Reading Rockets: https://www.readingrockets.org/ 
• Winston-Salem State University Department of Education: https://www.wssu.edu/academics/colleges-and-departments/college-of-arts-sciences-business-education/education/department-of-education/index.html 
• Frank Porter Graham Child Development Institute: https://fpg.unc.edu/ + COVID-19 resources: https://fpg.unc.edu/covid-19-resources 
• REL Southeast: https://ies.ed.gov/ncee/edlabs/regions/southeast/index.asp 
• Higher Ed Works: https://hew.aveltsagency.com/ 
• EdNC: https://www.ednc.org/