Asthma doesn't make you an underachiever, but missing too many days of school can. Teachers need to gear their teaching to the ways that individual students learn. What works well for one child does not always work well for other children. Children who see parents and others reading, and who are surrounded by books and magazines in a print-rich environment, are themselves more likely to read. Many children grow up in homes in which the only available reading is TV Guide .
More fortunate ones grow up with books present and being read on a regular basis.
The major cultural factor that works against reading is poverty. Since so much energy must be devoted to securing the basic needs of food and shelter, poor children may not have had many early literacy experiences. Self-reliant children of poverty who have learned to take care of themselves at an early age, may find it difficult to adjust to school rules and procedures, reading groups, and silent reading. To be sure, both situations happen. Similarly, some emotional problems lead to underachievement.