Many of these parents have tried almost everything to get their child interested in reading: different books, different formats, bribery, encouragement, or backing off entirely to see if that helps. Most often, none of it works, and it leaves parents feeling completely frustrated, wondering if anything ever will work.
To understand how the child got here, it helps to look at something that happens to a lot of struggling readers, usually starting around middle school. Once a reading gap becomes clear, schools and tutoring programs often respond by handing a student books “at their level,” which in practice means books written for much younger kids. The vocabulary matches what they can decode, but the subject matter the book covers is unmistakably for a 7- or 8-year-old, while their classmates are reading books about the things 12- or 15-year-olds actually care about.
The problem these students face is: read what your peers read, and you can’t keep up or read what you can manage, and it feels like a step backward into childhood. Given that choice, a lot of readers choose a third option. They stop trying at all. This isn’t a motivation problem in the way it’s usually described. It’s a reasonable reaction to an impossible choice, one they face right at the age when fitting in matters most.
Here’s what changes everything: most of these readers aren’t refusing to read. They just haven’t found their way in yet. “Older” here doesn’t just mean middle and high school. A lot of struggling readers with disabilities are well into their 20s and 30s, still being handed material that was never built with them in mind. By adolescence, let alone adulthood, they haven’t just been fighting a skill gap. They’ve been fighting years, sometimes decades, of failure stacked on top of whatever disability is actually in the way. Past a certain point, the motivation problem can be the bigger one to solve.
The good news is that this doesn’t have to be the case, and it doesn’t take special software or an expensive program to change it. What follows is a way of thinking about the problem that any parent can use, whether you’re choosing between reading tools, working with a teacher, or just trying to find something that finally sticks.
Separate Decoding from Comprehension
Combining these two skills is one of the most common ways well-meaning adults miss what’s actually going on. Decoding is turning letters into sounds and words. Comprehension is understanding what those words mean. A reader can struggle badly with one and be perfectly capable at the other, and for many people with disabilities, that’s exactly the case.
If you remove the decoding barrier through reading aloud, audiobooks, or text-to-speech, you may discover a reader who understands the story just fine. That tells you the disability is getting in the way of the mechanics, not the thinking. Someone in that position doesn’t need to master phonics before they can experience a story. Give them access to stories now, through audiobooks or text-to-speech, while decoding is being built up separately.
Give Them a Private Way to Ask for Help
Younger kids will raise a hand and say “I don’t get it.” Older readers, especially those who’ve spent years feeling behind, usually won’t. Asking for help means admitting, out loud, that they’re still struggling with something their peers seem to do easily.
Build in a low-stakes, private way to signal confusion that doesn’t require a public admission: a hint button in a digital tool, an agreed-upon hand signal, or a simple pause-and-check-in habit. The goal is the same: make asking for help feel unremarkable, not like a spotlight.
Measure Understanding, Not Just Recall
A lot of reading support checks whether someone can repeat back what happened, the easiest thing to check, but not the skill that matters most. The comprehension skills worth building are:
- Inference: Can they figure out something the text implies but doesn’t say?
- Cause and effect: Do they understand why something happened, not just that it did?
- Main idea: Can they identify what the story is really about?
- Citing evidence: Can they point to what supports their answer?
- Critical thinking: Can they reason about characters’ choices or what happens next?
No formal assessment needed. Try questions like “Why do you think she did that?” after reading together. These tell you far more than “what happened in the story” ever will.
Motivation Is Not Optional - It’s Part of the Fix
For an older struggling reader, the motivation deficit is often as real as the skill deficit. Someone who’s decided they’re not a good reader will avoid it no matter how well-designed the material is. Avoidance protects against more failure.
Rebuild motivation by letting them choose what they read, making progress visible, and giving them ownership over the experience: a reading log they control, a series they picked, small rewards tied to effort rather than performance.
The trap described at the start of this piece deserves special attention here. Hi-Lo books (high interest, low reading level) are built to solve this problem: age-respectful subject matter paired with an accessible reading level, so content matches who the reader actually is, not just what they can currently decode. When choosing material, check directly: does the story respect the reader’s actual age, even if the reading level is lower? A struggling reader handed material that speaks to their real interests is far more likely to stay with it than one handed something “at their level” but written for someone half their age.
Use Visuals as Scaffolding, Not Decoration
For many disabled and reluctant readers, images do real cognitive work, carrying meaning and context clues, not just making a page less intimidating. Look for illustrations that connect to the text’s meaning, rather than sitting alongside it as decoration. A well-placed image can make an abstract idea concrete, the way a diagram does for anyone learning something hard.
Track Progress the Right Way
Traditional pre- and post-test scores often miss what’s actually changing, especially early on. Watch instead for leading indicators:
- Are they spending more time with books?
- Are they more willing to ask for help instead of shutting down?
- Do they bring up something they read without being asked?
These behaviors tend to show up before test scores do, and they’re often a better sign that something is working.
What “Not Giving Up” Actually Looks Like
For a lot of parents, “not giving up” has come to mean pushing harder on the same strategy: more worksheets, more repetition. But if a strategy hasn’t worked in months or years, doing more of it isn’t the answer. Not giving up means trying a genuinely different approach, not a more intense version of the one that isn’t working.
Evaluating Any Approach, Program, or Tool
- Does it separate decoding support from comprehension work?
- Does the subject matter respect their actual age, even if the reading level is lower?
- Do they have a private, shame-free way to ask for help?
- Does it check for real comprehension, such as inference, cause and effect, and evidence, not just recall?
- Does it build in choice, ownership, or visible progress?
- Does it use images purposefully, not just as filler?
- Can you track engagement over time, not just test scores?
The relationship between older reluctant readers and reading isn’t fixed. It’s been shaped by every experience they’ve had with it so far, and it can be reshaped by different ones. The right entry point is out there. Sometimes it just takes a different kind of approach to find it.
Bibliography
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ABOUT THE AUTHOR:
Dr. Maria Cleary is the Founder and CEO of Readeezy Literacy, a nonprofit dedicated to improving literacy outcomes for delayed and disabled middle and high school readers through accessible, age-respectful digital reading experiences. She is currently leading development of an AI-powered Reading Companion that provides personalized support in comprehension, critical thinking, retention and engagement. Prior to founding Readeezy, Dr. Cleary served as a teacher, principal, and school superintendent, and has taught at the college level at Montclair State, Seton Hall, Boston College, and New Jersey City University. Her writing has appeared in the New York Academy of Public Education Journal, Principal Magazine and EP Magazine, among other publications.
Read the article here.