It was the last day of second grade when Maya came home waving a reading award over her head. All year, her mom Lisa had sat beside her at the kitchen table — sounding out words, rereading sentences, celebrating every small win. Maya had dyslexia, and nothing had come easy. But by June, she was reading. Really reading. Then came summer.
By the time August arrived, Lisa noticed something that made her stomach sink. Maya was stumbling over words she’d known cold in June. She was frustrated. She was avoiding books again. Ten months of early mornings, patient tutors, and hard-fought progress — and it felt like they were sliding back to where they started. “I didn’t know this could happen,” Lisa said. “No one told me that summer could undo so much.”
While Maya and Lisa are fictional characters, their story reflects a moment that countless Wisconsin families know all too well. If it sounds familiar, you’re not alone — and you’re not imagining it. What so many children and parents experience every summer has a name: the summer slide.
What Is the Summer Slide?
The summer slide refers to the loss of academic skills and knowledge that occurs during the long summer break. It’s not a sign that your child didn’t work hard enough — it’s a natural result of stepping away from structured learning for an extended period. Research from NWEA’s 2025 MAP Growth study found that in math alone, students can lose the equivalent of 10 to 30 percent of what they learned during the school year over the summer months.
Why Does It Happen?
Learning is a lot like a muscle. When we stop using it consistently, it takes more effort to get back to where we were. During the school year, children benefit from daily routine, structured instruction, and regular practice. Summer disrupts all three. Without that scaffolding, skills that were still new and fragile — like phonics patterns, reading fluency, or math facts — are the first to fade. For many families, the summer months also bring reduced access to support services like tutoring, speech therapy, and intervention programs, which makes the gap even harder to bridge.
The Impact for Students with Learning Disabilities
While all students can experience some level of summer slide, the impact is significantly more pronounced for children with learning disabilities such as dyslexia, dysgraphia, and dyscalculia. Research shows that children with dyslexia lose more reading ground over the summer than their non-dyslexic peers — in part because their reading skills often depend on consistent, structured practice to stay strong, and because support from specialists is typically paused during the break.
The National Summer Learning Association estimates that students can lose up to two months of reading and math skills over the summer. For children with learning disabilities, those losses can cut even deeper, particularly when routines and support systems are disrupted. Over time, this pattern compounds: each summer of backsliding can widen the gap between a child with a learning disability and their peers, making it harder to catch up when school resumes.
The good news? Summer slide is not inevitable. With consistent, low-pressure engagement throughout the summer, parents can help their children maintain — and even build on — the skills they worked so hard to develop. You don’t need a full curriculum or a formal classroom. You just need a plan.
That’s exactly what this guide is for.
