Bridging the space between “figuring it out” and “just knowing it.”

You’ve taught the decoding strategies. You’ve modeled, scaffolded, practiced, and celebrated accuracy. Your student can sound out words, tap phonemes, and apply patterns… yet reading still feels slow and effortful. If that scenario sounds familiar, you’re not alone. For many students with dyslexia, accurate decoding is only the beginning of the journey. The real bridge lies in helping students move from figuring out words to knowing words—from effortful decoding to automatic word reading.

This post is an extension of Stuck on Decoding? 5 Ways to Scaffold Instruction, where we explored specific decoding supports that help students move through unfamiliar words with accuracy. If you have not read that post yet, I encourage you to start there for a deeper look at the decoding scaffolds themselves and download the FREE PDF with the scaffolds. 

Here, we zoom in on what comes next: the instructional moves that help studen...