Football and Phonics: Stop fumbling Helping Your Child Read

It’s football season here in the U.S.! For those outside the States, this analogy can easily translate to the football we affectionately refer to as soccer. The weather is cooling down, and American football seems to be on TV almost every day—whether it's the NFL or college games.

As a Reading Coach, I often use analogies to help parents understand the process of learning to read. And what better analogy during this time of year than football? Like football, learning to read can seem complex and overwhelming, with a lot of moving parts. But when you break it down into steps, it starts to make sense.

I’ve spent decades teaching reading and studying how children learn to read. There are many details, and sometimes it’s hard to know where to start. So, let’s think of reading in the same way we think of learning football.

Watching Football vs. Playing Football: The Importance of Direct Instruction

I grew up surrounded by football—whether it was playing in the streets with friends, cheering for my favorite team, or watching it on TV. As a mom of three sons, I spent a lot of time on the sidelines. But despite all that exposure, I was never taught the skills needed to play. I understood the basics, but I couldn’t step onto the field with any level of confidence.

A long-standing myth in education has been that if we surround children with enough books, letters, and words, they will "catch" reading. But this theory is like saying that if we just surround people with football games, they'll somehow become skilled athletes. While exposure is important, it’s not enough on its own.

In reality, both learning to read and becoming a skilled football player require the right developmental skills, direct instruction, and appropriate practice. Let’s break this down.

Step 1: Building the Developmental Skills

Before anyone can excel in football, they need foundational skills—things like coordination, balance, and muscle strength. Similarly, in reading, children need to develop basic visual and auditory skills before they start connecting those skills with print.

In reading, these developmental skills include:

• Visual discrimination: Recognizing shapes, lines, and patterns. These skills are eventually used to identify letters and words.
• Auditory discrimination: Hearing the individual sounds in our language, a skill known as phonemic awareness.
• Language development: Understanding and using spoken language before they can transfer that knowledge to written words.

Step 2: Learning the Rules of the Game (Phonics and Direct Instruction)

Once a child has developed the foundational skills, they’re ready to learn the rules of the game. In football, this means learning how to throw, catch, and understand the positions and plays. In reading, it’s about learning letters, understanding the sounds they represent, and how these sounds come together to form words.

In reading, these essential skills include:

• Print Awareness: Understanding how books and written language work. Recognizing letters and words.
• Phonics: Connecting letters with sounds and blending them to read words.
• Fluency: Appropriate level of practice that leads to the ability to lift the words off the page smoothly and accurately.

Step 3: Practice and Progression

No one starts by playing in the NFL. A young athlete starts in flag football, progresses to tackle, plays in high school, and maybe—if they work hard and keep developing their skills—they’ll make it to college or professional levels. At every stage, they are learning new plays, refining their skills, and gaining confidence. The same is true in reading.

Once a child is reading simple text accurately, we engage in more complex text:

• Vocabulary: Expanding word knowledge for better understanding.
• Comprehension: Grasping meaning and making sense of what’s read.

Explaining the Process in My Reading Course for Parents

We know that when the right skills are developed at the right time, 95% of children can become successful readers. My goal is to provide parents of children aged 0-7 with a clear path to success. If you're looking for a step-by-step roadmap to raising a skilled reader with less stress, check out this resource designed just for you! In my Reading Course for Parents, I break down each step in greater detail, explaining how to foster success from the very beginning.

Just like coaching a young athlete, helping your child become a confident reader takes time, but with the right tools and support, it’s completely achievable.

Conclusion: It's a Journey

Learning to read, like learning to play football, is a journey. It starts with the development of foundational skills, moves through instruction in the “rules”, and requires plenty of practice and perseverance. Without all three of these stages, it’s hard for a child to truly master reading, just like it would be hard for an athlete to excel without the right training.

So, this football season, as you’re watching the games or playing with your kids, remember that you are your child’s first coach and by understanding the steps to success you can guide them to be Reading Champions!