How to Help a Teen Who’s Falling Behind in Reading

lucas398q3
Dec 28, 2025
3 min read

Updated: Dec 30, 2025

How can I find a reading program that actually helps my teen with dyslexia or ongoing reading struggles?

In This Post

Why reading challenges often show up in the teen years
What “teen dyslexia” really looks like
Why the right reading tutoring approach matters
Who benefits from a structured reading program

By the time kids reach middle or high school, reading struggles can feel especially heavy. Teens are expected to learn through reading, not learn how to read. When reading still feels slow, effortful, or embarrassing, confidence often takes a hit. Many parents begin searching for teen dyslexia support at this stage.

Why reading challenges often show up in the teen years

Some teens were diagnosed with dyslexia earlier in elementary school. Others have quietly worked around their challenges for years. Bright students can compensate for a while, sometimes for years, with strong memory, context clues, and high verbal skills. Eventually, though, the academic demands increase, texts get denser, and those workarounds stop working.

This is when families often start looking for dyslexia tutoring or a specialized reading program designed for teens, not little kids. The good news is that it is absolutely not too late. With the right instruction, teens can close foundational reading gaps faster than many parents expect.

What “teen dyslexia” really looks like

Dyslexia is not about intelligence or effort. It is a language-based difference that affects how the brain processes written words. Many teens with dyslexia struggle with decoding, spelling, and reading fluency, even if comprehension is strong once text is read aloud.

Some teens are diagnosed with "orthographic dyslexia," sometimes called "surface dyslexia." These students may have average phonological skills but weak knowledge of spelling patterns and word structure. They often read slowly, spell inconsistently, and struggle with irregular words. Others show more the more classic signs of dyslexia (sometimes referred to as "phonological dyslexia"), with weak phonological skills and difficulty breaking words into sounds, manipulating those sounds and then blending the sounds back together into a new word. The International Dyslexia Association simply uses the one term "dyslexia" and does not subdivide dyslexia into different types.

What matters most is not the label, but identifying which reading skills are weak or missing and teaching those skills directly.

Why the right reading tutoring approach matters

Generic tutoring that focuses on homework help or reading practice rarely solves the problem for teens with dyslexia. Effective reading tutoring must be explicit, systematic, and targeted to foundational skills that the student has not yet learned.

At Kids Up Reading Tutors, we use evidence-based instruction grounded in the Science of Reading. This includes structured phonics, spelling, morphology and fluency taught with an Orton-Gillingham approach, combined with explicit instruction in phonological skills. This combination is critical for teens who need efficient, no-nonsense instruction that respects their age and intelligence.

High-intensity sessions, usually multiple times per week, allow teens to make real progress quickly. This is especially important for older students who want an end in sight and do not want tutoring to drag on indefinitely.

Who benefits from a structured reading program

While many families come to us searching for dyslexia tutoring, our reading program is not only for students who have been diagnosed with dyslexia. We also work with teens who simply need more instruction than they received in school. Some of those students may have fallen behind due to curriculum gaps, learning disruptions like COVID or inconsistent reading instruction earlier on.

If your teen struggles with spelling, reads slowly, avoids reading, or works much harder than peers to get through assignments, targeted reading and spelling tutoring can help, with or without a diagnosis.

The goal is not endless support. The goal is to get teens caught up, confident, and independent as readers and writers.

What Sets Kids Up Reading Tutors Apart?

Evidence-based instruction with Orton-Gillingham+
- Based on the Science of Reading
- Data-driven systematic, explicit instruction
- For all learners, with or without dyslexia/dysgraphia

Kids & teens get caught up ASAP
- Customized, 1-on-1 sessions with a dedicated tutor
- High-intensity tutoring (2-5x/week) via Zoom
- Focused, with an end in sight (not endless tutoring & investment)