How Sara Picarazzi takes her students from “I can’t read” to confidence in their ability to learn.
There is no single path from “I can’t read” to “I love phonics” but the journey is powerful and transformative. It requires structured teaching, patience, empathy, emotional safety, responsive support, flexibility, fostering metacognitive skills and a belief that confidence grows through capability. We are not just teaching children how to read and write. We are teaching them to believe in their ability to learn. When students feel proud to read in the library, explain what they have learned and share their achievements with others, that’s when you know it’s working. By empowering students with dyslexia to not only become better readers and writers but also more confident, self-aware and willing to take risks, we can help them rediscover the joy in learning.
Dyslexia is a specific learning difficulty that affects reading and writing, but its impact often goes beyond literacy. It can influence how children see themselves, their confidence, motivation and belief in their ability to learn. Without early identification, children may start to think their struggles mean they are not capable enough. They might feel frustrated when they can’t read age-appropriate books, express themselves in writing or keep up with peers even though they are trying their best. When a child with dyslexia says, “I can’t read,” it’s rarely just about decoding. More often, it reflects frustration, low confidence and repeated failure. These learners might avoid reading aloud, rely on coping strategies or quietly follow others to stay on track. But those words can also mark the start of something more positive: a shift from resistance to engagement and, ultimately, a sense of pride. This article explores how we as educators can facilitate this shift. It outlines key principles that make intervention effective not just in building reading and writing skills but also in nurturing confidence, independence and intrinsic motivation.
Building confidence through targeted support
Every child with dyslexia has a unique profile of strengths and challenges. The first step before implementing any support programme is to assess these individual differences, identify areas for development and set clear learning targets. I use a variety of tools to gain insights into students’ abilities and challenges, including questionnaires for students, teachers and parents along with observations and informal assessments of literacy skills. This helps determine current levels in areas like phonemic awareness, phonics, spelling, writing composition, reading and comprehension. Once I have identified the child’s starting point, I design an intervention programme tailored to their needs. The information gathered from the assessment process guides my planning. I typically work in 8-week cycles, following a structured, sequential, cumulative, phonics-based multisensory programme. A structured programme offers consistency and a clear sequence for teaching but this is just the starting point. I usually complement the programme with additional activities tailored to the needs identified through the assessment. Throughout the lessons, it is also vital to monitor progress, reflect on outcomes and tweak the plan following the “Assess, Plan, Do, Review” cycle. In this way it is easy to understand which concepts to reinforce or modify activities that either don’t suit the learner’s level or fail to engage them. Progress is not always linear. Learners with dyslexia need many opportunities for overlearning to overcome the difficulties they encounter in the automatization of skills, so extensive practice, repetition and review are crucial components of any successful support programme. It is important not to rush through the programme. If we need to revisit concepts that were previously taught, that’s not a failure but responsive teaching. Being flexible and adapting to each learner’s needs ensures that the support remains relevant, helping them to build confidence and a sense of achievement.
Creating a supportive learning environment
With a support plan in place, attention should turn to the learning environment and teaching approach, as both are crucial for sustaining engagement and fostering confidence. Breaking down information into small manageable chunks helps prevent cognitive overload, supporting better retention. Visual supports are vital in creating a predictable and structured learning environment. When combined with a consistent routine, they help learners feel more confident and reduce anxiety, allowing them to take risks without worrying about what comes next. I often use visual timetables and, at the start of each session, students describe the activities they will be working on. This not only reinforces the routine but also helps them take ownership of their learning. Sharing learning objectives with students also helps them understand the purpose behind their tasks. I regularly provide feedback on their progress and involve them in setting goals. This is especially effective in encouraging a sense of ownership and engagement in the learning process. I often have conversations with my students about the areas they find difficult and what they want to focus on, such as spelling or irregular words. For example, an 8-year-old student once shared that he struggled with the “u-e” sound, saying, “It makes two sounds and one sounds like ‘yoo.'” I also had a meaningful conversation with a 10-year-old student who noticed that she still couldn’t read some words because “we haven’t learned all the sounds yet.” This level of insight into their learning is crucial for growth. Tasks should always be set at an appropriate level: challenging enough to foster growth but still feasible, allowing students to experience success. This balance is crucial for boosting self-esteem and motivation. For instance, when practising reading single words, I include a mix: some that are easy for the students, some that align with the new phonic unit we are learning and others that present a challenge. The sense of pride and achievement they feel when they see they can complete the task independently reinforces their motivation and belief in their abilities.
Modelling and scaffolding
Modelling and scaffolding are key to encouraging independence. I use resources such as sound mats, Elkonin boxes, visual prompts and manipulatives to enhance learning. The structured “I do, we do, you do” cycle is central to my teaching approach. This cycle allows for gradual release of responsibility, ensuring that students first see the skill demonstrated, practise it together with guidance and then try it on their own. Depending on the students’ needs, the cycle might involve more repetitions of “I do” or “we do,” ensuring they have the time and support needed to consolidate their learning. Giving students the time to reflect, make mistakes and revisit ideas without pressure helps build confidence. A strategy I find powerful is encouraging students to create mind maps to reactivate prior knowledge before introducing new concepts. This approach allows them the space to think, reflect and process at their own pace, strengthening connections between ideas and fostering critical thinking and metacognition.
Building relationships
Building strong positive relationships is key to helping students feel seen, valued and understood. When students feel safe and supported, they are more likely to take risks, engage in learning and develop resilience and confidence. This relationship-based approach includes knowing your students, listening to them, adapting your pace, using humor to reduce pressure and making learning feel personal and safe. Children with dyslexia often associate reading with anxiety, embarrassment or failure. By creating a safe space where mistakes are seen as part of the learning process, we can help students develop a positive attitude toward challenges. Emphasizing the idea that mistakes are opportunities to learn encourages them to take risks and engage more fully in the process.
Personalising support to boost engagement
Personalising learning can be a turning point for learners who have developed emotional barriers around reading and writing. Tailoring materials, activities and goals to the learner’s interests, preferences and emotional needs creates meaningful connections and can increase motivation. I often draw on learners’ interests to make reading more relevant and engaging. For example, when working with a nine-year-old student who had strong verbal skills, creativity and curiosity but significant difficulties with reading and spelling, it became clear that her emotional response to reading needed to be addressed before academic progress could happen. Although she loved books and stories, she had begun refusing to read, often expressing frustration and showing signs of low self-esteem. To rebuild her confidence and engage her in reading, I started by generating custom texts using AI. The stories featured fairies, a topic she loved, and included a main character named after her. A picture from the story was shown before reading, helping her visualise the context and enter the task with curiosity. To reduce pressure, we used paired reading and followed up with a Kahoot quiz for comprehension, which captured her attention through play. In another session, I created a dialogue script involving a character named after her best friend. We read it together through role play, which made the activity interactive and enjoyable while supporting reading fluency in a low-pressure way. I also displayed her work on our “wow wall” to reinforce a sense of achievement. This personalised approach had a big impact on her motivation and helped her gradually shift from avoidance to engagement. For Neurodiversity Week, she even volunteered to give a speech about her dyslexia to younger students, reading it aloud with minimal support. This transformation highlighted the power of personalising support not only for academic growth but for personal empowerment and self-belief.
Encouraging ownership
As students begin to engage more deeply and confidently with tasks, the next step is to support their development as independent, reflective learners. An essential part of my approach is fostering metacognitive skills, which help students become aware of how they learn and take responsibility for their progress. Encouraging reflection helps build self-awareness and confidence. For students to make informed decisions about how they learn, they first need exposure to different strategies. Encouraging exploratory activities followed by reflection helps students develop autonomy in selecting the strategies that work best for them. Asking questions such as, “What helped you read that word?” or “Which part was tricky?” helps students develop a deeper understanding of their learning process. These questions build self-awareness and foster metacognition. Tools like guided questioning, journals and visual supports can enhance this process. These resources support students in tracking their progress, setting personal goals and recognising their achievements.