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Orthographic Mapping: Essential for Skilled Reading

Writer's picture: Alyssa AlthouseAlyssa Althouse

As a reading tutor, educational therapist, and parent coach, I understand the challenges parents face when their children struggle with reading. One crucial concept that can shed light on these difficulties is orthographic mapping. Understanding this process can empower you to support your child's reading journey more effectively.


From David Kilpatrick's Equipped for Reading Success
From David Kilpatrick's Equipped for Reading Success

What Is Orthographic Mapping?

Orthographic mapping is the cognitive process that enables readers to store written words in their long-term memory for instant retrieval. This means that when a child encounters a word they've previously read, they can recognize it immediately without needing to sound it out each time. This automatic recognition is essential for fluent reading. 


Why Is Orthographic Mapping Important?

For children struggling to read, difficulties often stem from challenges in forming these mental connections between letters and sounds. Without effective and efficient orthographic mapping, reading will be laborious -- affecting automatic word retrieval and reading/writing fluency, and therefore comprehension and overall academic performance. 



How Can Parents Support Orthographic Mapping at Home?

While orthographic mapping itself isn't a direct teaching method, there are several strategies parents can employ to facilitate this process:


  1. Develop Phonemic Awareness: Engage your child in activities that focus on the sounds within words, such as alliteration and syllable games and segmenting and blending sounds. This foundational skill is crucial for connecting sounds to their corresponding letters. 

  2. Practice Letter-Sound Correspondence: Regularly review letters (especially vowels) and their associated sounds to reinforce these connections. Utilizing multi-sensory approaches, like this or through word building and chaining games like these.

  3. Encourage Repeated Reading: Having your child read and re-read familiar texts with you as you drag your finger under the text helps reinforce word recognition, aiding in the transition of words from short-term to long-term memory.

  4. Utilize Mapping Activities: Engage in exercises where your child maps out words by breaking them into individual sounds and matching them to letters. This reinforces the connection between phonemes (sounds) and graphemes (letters). 


    What to Avoid When Supporting Orthographic Mapping:

    While there are many helpful strategies to support your child’s reading development, some common practices can inadvertently hinder their progress. Here are a few activities to avoid.

    -Memorizing Words

    Encouraging your child to memorize entire words by word shape/the whole word may seem like a quick fix, but it doesn’t help build the critical phonemic awareness needed for orthographic mapping. Since research shows we don’t learn words only visually (even fluent readers are using stored sound/letter correspondences), it’s not best to teach through classic rote memorization, even High Frequency Words. Instead, focus on teaching the sounds within words and how they connect to letters.

    -Flashcards and Lists for Whole-Word Reading

    Using flashcards that promote whole-word memorization bypass the important process of connecting phonemes (sounds) to graphemes (letters). Instead of drilling whole words, use flashcards to practice letter-sound relationships or segmenting and blending sounds to decode and encode words. Quizzing students on word flashcards or sending home lists of 100 “sight words” to memorize on the first day of Kindergarten is not aligned with the research of how the brain learns to read! To some, it may seem as though a child like this knows a lot: 100 words! However, we are doing them a disservice by not prioritizing the sound/symbol correspondences that could have them reading 100s of words and storing them deep in the context of spelling patterns.


    Word memorizers might have locked in that list, but they haven't developed the skills to generalize to other words with the same patterns, or they might even have really fragile sound/symbol relationships in their brain. This is apparent when readers memory gets tapped out and they therefore start to struggle with reading when the books get more complex. This underdevelopment also shows up when children are constantly misspelling words, or have inconsistencies when spelling (e.g., they spell "when" w-e-h-n, one day and w-e-n the next day.

    -Guessing Words from Pictures

    While using illustrations to support comprehension is a great tool, relying on pictures to guess words doesn’t promote decoding skills. Encourage your child to focus on the letters and sounds within the word instead of using visual clues. If the "skill" instruction isn't generalizable to all texts, we are not doing our part to teach readers to be independent or to even have the chance to love reading.

    From @ mindfulteacherrachel
    From @ mindfulteacherrachel

    By focusing on research-based strategies and avoiding practices that don’t align with how the brain learns to read, you’ll give your child the tools they need to develop strong, confident reading skills. Understanding orthographic mapping offers valuable insight into the reading process and highlights the importance of foundational skills in reading development. When we know better, we can do better! By supporting your child's phonemic awareness and letter-sound knowledge at home, you play a pivotal role in their journey toward reading proficiency. If you’d like tailored support for your child, I’m here to help! Let’s connect and get them on the path to reading success.


Seeking Professional Support

If your child continues to face reading challenges, it may be beneficial to consult with a reading specialist or educational therapist. Professionals can provide targeted interventions tailored based on your child's specific needs, ensuring they receive the support necessary to become confident, fluent readers.


At Learn with Alyssa we offer you support for each stage:

  • Diagnostic Evaluations & Feedback Sessions 

  • Consultation for Planning Your Child's Support 

  • 1-on-1 Literacy Intervention for Struggling Readers & Writers 

  • In-person and virtual sessions available! 

  • School-Based Support

We are happy to help you understand the processes, attend meetings with you to reduce the overwhelm, or guide you on whether additional support outside of school is necessary. 


We guarantee that we will always be upfront and honest with you and that we have you and your child's best interests in mind. We will always put those interests ahead of any other. From the bottom of my heart, I want your child to reach their potential.


Happy Mapping,

Alyssa

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