My Child Can Read but Doesn't Understand — What Helps?

Reading comprehension is the ability to understand, interpret, and think critically about what you read. It goes beyond decoding words—it involves understanding the meaning, making inferences, analyzing author's choices, and connecting ideas. Strong comprehension skills are essential for academic success across all subjects, not just English.

The most effective strategies include: regular reading practice (15-20 minutes daily), asking open-ended questions about texts, teaching specific comprehension strategies (prediction, inference, summarizing), building vocabulary, and providing diverse reading materials. Primary Story combines all these approaches with personalized stories and immediate feedback on comprehension questions.

UK schools use the VIPERS framework covering 6 question types: Vocabulary (word meanings), Inference (reading between the lines), Prediction (what might happen next), Explain (justify opinions and answers), Retrieve (find information in text), and Summarise (identify key themes). Primary Story's questions cover all VIPERS domains to build well-rounded comprehension skills.

Children begin comprehension from their first stories—even picture books develop understanding. Formal comprehension questions typically start in Year 1 (age 5-6) with simple retrieval questions, progressing to inference and analysis by Year 6 (age 10-11). Primary Story adapts question complexity to your child's year group and current ability level.

Primary Story provides unlimited comprehension practice with: personalized stories matching your child's reading level and interests, VIPERS framework questions aligned to UK National Curriculum, instant feedback explaining correct answers, progress tracking across all comprehension skills, and adaptive difficulty that grows with your child. This makes practice engaging and effective.

Reading fluency is the ability to read accurately and smoothly with appropriate speed. Comprehension is understanding what you've read. Fluency is necessary for comprehension—if a child struggles to decode words, their brain has less capacity for understanding meaning. Primary Story develops both by providing texts at the right difficulty level with engaging content that maintains focus.

Signs include: difficulty answering questions about stories they've read, forgetting details from earlier in a text, struggling to predict what might happen next, inability to explain characters' motivations, reading words correctly but not understanding meaning, or avoiding reading tasks. Primary Story's dashboard helps identify specific comprehension skills (inference, retrieval, etc.) where your child needs support.

Yes! Comprehension is a skill that improves significantly with regular, targeted practice. Children who practice comprehension questions 15-20 minutes daily show measurable improvement within 4-6 weeks. The key is variety—practicing different question types (VIPERS) with diverse texts. Primary Story's AI generates fresh content daily, preventing boredom while building skills.

Year 6 SATs reading paper (1 hour) tests comprehension with a mix of multiple-choice and written-answer questions based on 2-3 passages. Questions assess: retrieval, inference, vocabulary in context, summarizing, prediction, and author's intent. Primary Story's SATs Practice Mode provides authentic exam-style questions with scaled scoring (80-120) to prepare children for test format and timing.

Absolutely! Comprehension skills are essential for all learning. Understanding science textbooks, analyzing historical sources, interpreting math word problems, and following instructions all require strong comprehension. Children with good comprehension skills perform better across all subjects and develop critical thinking abilities valuable throughout life.