6 Tips to Help Your Child Develop Reading Skills
Feb 10, 2022 When talking about helping our children read, we start by determining the skills we want to target. Whether they include early reading skills, phonemic awareness, or comprehension skills, we need a starting point on which to base our teaching. If we do that, early literacy and developing reading abilities will follow.
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The time of bedtime stories has passed, and now it’s time your children started reading on their own. You’re probably wondering how you can help your child develop those skills.
Go through this article to discover some useful and practical strategies that will make your kid fall in love with reading.
Set an Example
You, as a parent or guardian, are your child’s first teacher. You represent an authority, so it’s quite natural that your kid looks up to you and imitates everything you do.
That’s why it’s essential to lead by example, meaning that it’s up to you to read first. When little ones see you reading regularly, they want to do the same thing you are doing, so they start to read. On the other hand, lying in front of the TV and changing channels won’t inspire your children to do anything, and certainly won’t encourage them to read.
Find the Right Reading Material
Maybe the reason why your kid is uninterested in reading is that you’re giving him the wrong books. Perhaps that kind of story or genre didn’t manage to spark your kid’s interest.
Think about the interests of your child and try providing them with books about those subjects. For instance, if they are curious about animals, get them a book about animals.
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Also, choose books your children can relate to. When they discover that some characters have the same struggles and challenges, they can get deeply involved with the story.
However, if you find it difficult to pick a book for your little one, try consulting a teacher who will probably give many good suggestions.
Change the Format
Another reason your children don’t like to read may lie in the fact that they don’t like actual books? Then try out another format. Luckily, nowadays, there are plenty of options.
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Today kids are glued to their iPads, so maybe they would prefer to read an ebook. That way, they would be using a familiar device that they already love and enjoy the process.
If ebooks don’t do the trick, try out audiobooks. Although they wouldn’t be reading by themselves, they would still be immersed in the story, letter sounds, sentence structure, and so on. Plus, they can listen to their favorite audiobook as many times as they want. You can also combine several methods, for example, choose an essay writer for you who will write what your child will definitely want to read.
Give Reading Programs a Try
We live in a digital age, and children are used to technology. Mobile applications like Reading Blubs, iPads, and video games are an integral part of their lives. So, why not make technology your ally in developing literacy skills?
In that case, you could use Epic, a program that collects more than 40K popular, high-quality books from the best publishers. It offers plenty of different reading material for 12-year-old kids and under to get them started and loving it.
Another convenient program is Reading IQ that offers from popular childhood classics to exclusive original titles that will boost your children’s motivation.
Make It Fun!
Every activity is pleasant when we have fun. On that occasion, we forget about the time, and we could spend hours and hours doing it. Yes, even working on reading comprehension. So, let’s try to make learning to read FUN!
In other words, try to gamify reading a little bit. For instance, create a list of words your children managed to read well, and with each word, add another point. After completing a major milestone, offer them a reward.
Likewise, your kids could draw their own illustrations based on the book or use funny voices. You can even ask your children if they have any ideas for a game.
The possibilities are endless, all you need is a little bit of creativity and effort.
Try Buddy Reading
Buddy reading can be an efficient way to help your reluctant reader. This means that you and your kid take turns reading by page, paragraph, or sentence.
Paired reading can prevent discouragement and frustration while facing numerous pages of text. When you read alongside your children, they feel supported and less burdened.
This technique is especially convenient when you start to develop the reading skills of your kids. With the help of buddy reading, in time, they will be able to read children’s books by themselves.
Also, this is a great way to spend some quality time with your little ones and even talk about the chapters you’ve read.
Last but not least, remember to arm yourself with a lot of patience. Acquiring a new skill takes time and effort, so don’t expect that your child becomes a bookworm overnight. Be gentle, supportive, and show understanding for what they’re going through.
Also, it’s important not to despair if some strategy doesn’t work. Just try out another one and, eventually, one will give the result and help your young reader develop literacy skills.
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