Phonological Awareness: Why Smart Kids Can Struggle to Read
Simon is one of the smartest kids I know.
He’s bright and curious, constantly asking thoughtful questions about how things work and why the world is the way it is. Conversations with Simon are never shallow—his mind is always active, always wondering.
And yet, three years ago, when Simon began educational therapy, he couldn’t read.
Not just “reading below grade level,” but struggling to read in a way that matched his intelligence and curiosity. Sounding out words was slow and exhausting. Reading felt frustrating instead of fulfilling.
This disconnect—between intelligence and reading ability—is something parents and educators see often. And more often than not, the missing link is phonological awareness.
When Intelligence and Reading Don’t Line Up
We tend to assume that bright children will naturally learn to read with enough exposure and practice. When that doesn’t happen, it can leave adults confused and children discouraged.
Simon loved stories. He had strong language skills. What he lacked wasn’t motivation—it was the foundational phonological awareness skills his brain needed to make sense of print.
Reading difficulties are rarely about intelligence.
They are often about how efficiently the brain processes the sounds of language—phonological awareness.
Reading Begins with Sound, Not Sight
Although reading looks like a visual task, it begins with sound.
Before a child can read fluently, they must be able to:
- hear individual sounds in spoken words,
- hold those sounds in memory,
- blend sounds together in the correct order, and
- connect sounds to letters and meaning.
These abilities fall under phonological awareness, a critical foundation for reading and spelling.
When phonological awareness is weak, students often compensate by guessing, memorizing words, or relying on pictures. These strategies may work briefly, but as texts become more complex, reading breaks down.
Phonological Awareness: The Hidden Skill Beneath the Struggle
Phonological awareness is the ability to hear, identify, and manipulate the sounds in spoken language—without print.
Students with weak phonological awareness may:
- struggle to break words into individual sounds (phonemes)
- have difficulty blending sounds to read words
- misread similar-sounding words
- read slowly and with great effort
Without strong phonological awareness, phonics instruction lacks a solid foundation. Decoding becomes inefficient, and reading feels overwhelming rather than automatic.
For Simon, reading didn’t improve until instruction directly strengthened his phonological awareness.
Why More Reading Practice Isn’t Enough
When a child struggles to read, the instinct is often more practice: more books, more repetition, more encouragement.
But without addressing phonological awareness, more practice can increase frustration instead of progress.
What struggling readers need is explicit, structured instruction that builds phonological awareness step by step—through intentional sequencing, multisensory learning, and repetition.
This is a core focus of the Rx for Reading approach, which targets the underlying skills that reading depends on, rather than asking students to compensate.
What Changed for Simon
Today, Simon is still the same bright, curious child.
The difference? He can now read fluently.
By strengthening his phonological awareness, reading became accessible. Words began to make sense. Reading shifted from a barrier to a gateway for learning.
Simon didn’t become smart because he learned to read.
He learned to read because instruction finally matched how his brain needed to learn.
From Struggling Reader to Confident Reader
When phonological awareness is strengthened:
- guessing decreases
- decoding becomes accurate
- fluency improves
- confidence grows
The difference between a struggling reader and a thriving reader is not intelligence—it’s instruction.
Want to Know If Phonological Awareness Is the Issue?
If you’re wondering whether a student is relying on guessing instead of true decoding, we’ve created a practical phonological awareness screening tool to help.
👉 Download the free Quick Reading Screening Tool: Guessing or Decoding?
It includes a quick observation checklist and an educator interpretation guide to help clarify next steps.
If you’d like to learn how to strengthen phonological awareness using a structured, research-based approach, explore upcoming Rx for Reading workshops at:
When we strengthen the foundation, everything built on it becomes stronger.