Decode Multisyllabic Words with Prefixes and Suffixes

READING TO LEARN

When your child was in kindergarten, first, and second grade, they simply focused on learning how to read.

When they moved to third, fourth and fifth grade they began to read to learn.

Here is where the struggle began for your child. Often your child’s teacher is telling you that your child is scoring low in reading comprehension. This baffles you because in the earlier grades your child was reading just fine.

A NEW DECODING CHALLENGE

While your child learned to decode in the earlier grades, there are still obstacles to overcome in the upper elementary grades.

The biggest obstacle will be multisyllabic words. These are the words with many syllables. These words often contain a base with a prefix and a suffix.

INTIMIDATING WORDS

Multisyllabic words are intimidating to your child.

As a result, your child will take the following steps: try to sound out the words like they did in the earlier elementary years or simply skip the words they can’t decode. Your child will soon discover that simply sounding out the words will prove to be ineffective and laborious when attacking multisyllabic words.

Their inability to decode multisyllabic words will affect their reading speed and fluency, which in turn will prevent them from fully comprehending the text.

Similarly, skipping multisyllabic words will keep them from fully comprehending the text, and they will grow discouraged.

DECODING STRUGGLES

As a parent, we need to keep in mind that reading, specifically decoding, requires a lot of brain engagement.

If your child is struggling with decoding, they can not even begin to focus on comprehension.

Therefore, before you address your child’s reading comprehension struggles, you must equip your child with the necessary tools to tackle multisyllabic words. It might be that once your child can tackle multisyllabic words, their reading comprehension will increase significantly.

RECOGNIZING THE PARTS

There are three key parts your students should recognize in a multisyllabic word: the root word, the prefix, and the suffix.

If your child can recognize these parts of a multisyllabic word, then they can begin to tackle any multisyllabic word they encounter.

Your must learn to quickly recognize each part of a multisyllabic word, pull it apart, and re-assemble it. This will eventually be done in a flash with practice.

OPEN AND CLOSED SYLLABLES IN MULTISYLLABIC WORDS

Learning to recognize open and closed syllables will also make decoding new words easier.

OPEN SYLLABLE

An open syllable has a consonant following a vowel. This causes the vowel to say its short sound.

CLOSED SYLLABLE

A closed syllable has no consonant following a vowel. This causes the vowel to say its name.

If your child knows the difference between an open syllable and a closed syllable, they will be able to tackle any new word.

INTERVENING EARLY

If you equip your child with the ability to decode multisyllabic words, then they can now focus on reading comprehension.

When your child is no longer stumbling over these often large, intimidating words, they can get back to enjoying reading, and their comprehension will increase.

This comprehension will further improve as they learn more reading comprehension strategies too. It is important to intervene early. Reading intervention needs to be done sooner than later. As a parent, you need to be your child’s advocate. Don’t delay in addressing the root of the problem.

THE NEXT STEP

If you want your child to have the necessary tools to become a good reader, I am here to help. Schedule a free online reading assessment.