Traci Tague

There's a pattern that many Chicago parents know well. Their child tries hard, does the homework, shows up every day, and still comes home with a reading log that feels like a battle. Spelling tests end in tears. Reading aloud is something to dread, not do. If that sounds like your family, you're not imagining things, and you're not alone. Reading difficulties are common, have identifiable causes, and respond well to intervention with the right kind of support. The first step is...

English spelling isn't random - it's historical Many parents assume English spelling is unpredictable. Words like sign , knight , science , and psychology  seem to break the rules. But these spellings aren't mistakes or accidents. They reflect etymology - the history and origin of each word. When children understand where words come from, those confusing spellings start to make sense. What is etymology? Etymology is the study of word origins. English draws from many languages - Old English,...

Reading begins with sound Before a child can read letters on a page, they must first understand something invisible: sound. Spoken language is built from individual sounds, and phonology is the study of how those sounds work. When children struggle to read, the difficulty often starts here. What is phonology? Phonology refers to the sound system of a language. In the context of reading development, it includes recognizing individual sounds (called phonemes), blending those sounds into words,...