How to Teach an Adult to Read: Step-by-Step + Free Lessons

Learning to read as an adult can feel overwhelming—but adults absolutely can learn to read with the right instruction, encouragement, and practice.

If you’re wondering how to teach an adult to read, one of the most important things to remember is that an adult beginning reader needs many of the same foundational reading skills as a child beginning reader—but the way we teach those skills should respect the learner’s age, experiences, interests, and goals.

Whether you’re helping a spouse, family member, friend, adult student, ESL learner, or an adult with special needs, start by building confidence and then work systematically on foundational reading skills.

And you don’t have to create a reading program yourself. Reading Patch now offers our complete step-by-step reading program FREE, including guided video reading lessons that adults can complete privately and at their own pace.

How to Teach an Adult to Read

Teaching an adult to read really isn’t much different than teaching a child. Children lack confidence because they feel like they are the only ones who can’t read. The same is true with an adult and even more so because they are older. 
The sad thing is that many adults who struggle to read may have an undiagnosed learning disorder such as dyslexia, or they may have never had someone reach them. Whatever the reason is, an adult who is seeking to learn how to read needs certain learning tools. Here’s how to teach an adult to read. 

Build Rapport

The first thing you need to do with an adult is build rapport with them. Find out why they want to learn to read. Ask them how they feel about reading and why they have struggled. Let them know the statistics that 5.2 million adults don’t know how to read. This will help them not to feel alone. Talk about things they like and build off their interests to relate to the adult student. Adults don’t want to be treated like children. They want to be treated like an adult. 

Skip the Children’s Story Books

First and foremost, if you have an adult that wants to learn to read, do not use children’s story books. Although these books may be an appropriate reading and spelling level for adult students, it will turn them away from reading. Presenting an adult with a children’s story book can be humiliating to the adults.
However, if an adult student is trying to learn to read to read their child a bedtime story or teach their own child to read, these books may work well. You will know by building rapport with the adult student.

Build Confidence

Building confidence is key to helping anyone learn to read whether they are an adult or a child. Focus on what the adult does know how to read. The more you can show the student that he or she is capable of reading, the easier it will be. Build off what the person knows and help them to see that they can do this. 

Consider Computer Based Learning

When we teach children to read, we typically have them do a lot of reading aloud. This may work for children, but for adults, this can be embarrassing, frustrating, and ultimately make them feel less confident. Instead, consider computer based learning that teaches an adult at their own pace. In fact, adults prefer to learn this way. Think of it like learning a different language. When we learn a new language we use Rosetta Stone or DuoLinguo.

Start With Foundational Reading Skills

An adult beginning reader needs a strong reading foundation just like any other beginning reader. Start by determining what the learner already knows rather than assuming you need to begin at the very beginning.

Does the learner recognize all of the letters? Do they know common letter sounds? Can they recognize some frequently used words? Can they blend sounds together to read simple words?

From there, instruction can build step-by-step.

At Reading Patch, we combine sight words and phonics. Early lessons help readers quickly recognize useful words so they can experience success and build confidence, while letter sounds and phonics skills are taught alongside them. As readers progress, they work increasingly with phonics, word patterns, fluency, vocabulary, and comprehension.

For an adult learner, some of the earliest lessons may be very easy. That’s okay! Move through material the learner already understands quickly and slow down when you reach the skills they need to practice.

Try Our Free Reading Program for Adults

If you’re looking for a structured way to teach an adult to read, you can use the Reading Patch Learn to Read Program completely FREE.

Mrs. Karle, a master first-grade reading teacher with more than 30 years of classroom experience, developed the program to give beginning and struggling readers clear, step-by-step instruction.

The program includes:

• 120+ guided video reading lessons
• Sight word and phonics instruction
• Printable practice worksheets
• Fluency, vocabulary, and comprehension practice
• Short lessons that can be completed at the learner’s own pace

Although Reading Patch was originally created for beginning and struggling young readers, the underlying reading skills are the same skills adult beginning readers need. Adults can move quickly through lessons covering skills they already know and spend more time where they need additional practice.

Most importantly, an adult can watch the video lessons privately, without the embarrassment that sometimes comes with struggling to read in front of another person.

→ Start the Complete Reading Patch Learn to Read Program FREE

Here are some learning based programs you can use with adults who are struggling with reading:

• Reading Patch – (Teach and adult or child to read for free)
• LINCS Learner Center
• Literacy Works Learner Lab
• Newsela
• USA Learns
• ProLiteracy

Teaching adults how to read has a whole different set of challenges than teaching a child to read. The key is to keep building confidence, being supportive, and encouraging them to read. 

About the Authors:
Madreen Karle is a master first grade reading teacher with over 30 years of classroom experience. She taught reading in a special needs and English as a Second Language classroom. After retiring she wrote a reading program to help others learn how to teach reading. She is a trusted educator and author of 5 books to help teach children to read and write. In addition to her books, she is a mentor for 3 websites that give reading teacher tips (Mrs. Karle’s Sight and Sound Reading, Mrs. Karle’s Reading Patch, and Mrs. Karle’s Handwriting Patch). Through her teaching she learned that confidence was the key to learning to read. A child who is not confident at reading does not like to read and struggles to read. Mrs. Karle created “sunshine moments” to help teach children how to grow their confidence and learn to read.
Meeghan Karle Mousaw (Madreen’s daughter) has her Master’s in Special Education. She has 7 years experience teaching children to read online. In addition, she developed a curriculum to teach children handwriting called The Handwriting Patch. With the Handwriting Patch learning is fun because children learn to draw and learn handwriting at the same time. In 2019 The Handwriting Patch curriculum became an amazon best seller the first year it was released, helping thousands of kids learn handwriting with a unique, fun method. She is mom to 6 kids, each with differently learning abilities and struggles.
The Reading Patch was established by the creators of Mrs. Karle’s Sight and Sound Reading. Together they have been featured on the NBC media outlets. Over the last 7 years in their online platform, Madreen and Meeghan have worked tirelessly with teachers, homeschoolers and parents looking to help children learn to read to become a trusted authority in teaching children to read and advocating early literacy skills. They often partner with other educational experts to deliver the most current information to the Reading Patch community.