Developing strong reading skills at a young age is key for success in school and life. Some children have an easy time learning the names of the letters and their corresponding sounds, and how to blend those sounds together to form words. Others, however, have a hard time learning how to read and need more of a systematic approach to developing foundational reading skills. Help your child build stronger reading skills with the ideas detailed below.
Letter and Sound Recognition
Young children need to learn the names of each letter and its corresponding sound before they can work on blending sounds together to form words. Help your child develop this skill by creating flash cards with a letter on the front and a key picture on the back, and hang these cards around your house. For example, you might create a flash card with the letter “a” on the front and a picture of an apple on the back, one with the letter “c” on the front and a picture of a cat on the back, one with the letter “s” on the front and a picture of a snake on the back, and so on. You may want to add lots of color to the pictures to make them look fun and inviting. As you create these cards, tell your child the name of the letter, its key picture, and its corresponding sound. For example, you might say, “This is the letter a” then flip the card around and say, “It makes the sound /a/ like apple.” For the “c” card, you might hold up the front of the card and say, “This is the letter c” then flip the card around and say, “It makes the sound /c/ like cat,” and follow this same process for all of the letters. Then hang the cards in different places around your house and ask your child to tell you the name of the letter, key picture, and corresponding sound when they see each card. Maybe even build in a reward, like a point for each one they say correctly, and ten points adds up to a special treat. If your child struggles with learning the letters and sounds, you may want to look into reading tutoring.
Build phonemic awareness skills
Phonemic awareness is the foundation of reading. It is the ability to identify and manipulate sounds in words, including working with phonemes, rhymes, words, and syllables. There are many activities you can do at home to help your child build stronger phonetic awareness skills. For instance, ask your child to tell you the first sound they hear in the words cat, rug, and man. Then have them tell you the final sound they hear in the words dog, sit, and cup, and later ask what the middle sounds are. You can tell your child two words parts and ask them to put them together to form one word, like “cup” and “cake” (cupcake) or “door” and “knob” (doorknob). Ask them to tell you words that rhyme with pit, mat, and tug. Then give them individual two and three letter words and have them try to tell you each sound that they hear in the words. For instance, if you give them the word “at” they should tell you they hear the sounds /a/ and /t/. If you give them the word “pig” they should tell you they hear the sounds /p/, /i/, /g/. The more you practice these phonemic awareness skills, the stronger your child’s reading skills will become. However, if your child struggles with phonemic awareness, Orton Gillingham tutoring may be helpful.
Read more about the Orton Gillingham method at EBL Coaching - Orton-Gillingham Tutors - Dr Emily Levy
Reading comprehension
When you read to your child, it’s important to always emphasize reading comprehension. While reading a story aloud, stop every 2-3 pages and ask your child to explain to you what happened so far in the story. Also ask about specific characters that came up. What was their name? What did they look like? What qualities did they have? Encourage them to use their imaginations and visualize the characters and plot. Visualization helps build stronger reading comprehension skills! Also ask your child questions along the way, like “Why do you think that man was angry?”, “Why do you think those girls are friends?”, or “What do you think will happen next?” The more you can engage with the text and make your child an active reader, the better! Reading comprehension tutoring can also help your child develop these skills.
Read a lot!
Read as much as you can with your child. This reading can be in just about any form: books, comics, magazines, newspapers. Any reading counts! Try to gauge your child’s interests and encourage them to read books on topics they are interested in, like nature, sports, or volcanoes. If they are interested in the topic, they will likely be much more engaged in the book. Also try to pick a designated time for reading - this might be before bed, during breakfast time, or right after school. The key is picking a consistent reading time and sticking with it!
Reading is one of the most important skills for school success. Try these strategies at home with your child and they will be well on their way to becoming excellent readers.
Read more about helping your child build stronger reading skills at FOUR Ways to Help Your Struggling Reader - EBL Coaching
