It all starts at home: Helping your child to read better

As any parent will testify, the process of learning to read is arguably one of the most interesting ones in your child’s development.

Let’s not forget that before they start school, most struggle to read a single word. However, after a few months their skills develop, and in no time at all they are reading pages and pages of books like they’ve been mastering them for years.

Of course, while the schools undoubtedly do an excellent job, you can help your little ones as well. Today’s article will take a look at some of the steps you can take either get your child’s reading off the ground if they’ve not yet started school, or to really take it to the next level.

The power of leveled books

Something that’s really started to benefit children around the world are leveled books. The game is really in the name with this invention; they are books that are targeted to umpteen different levels of reading. When we define “umpteen”, we’re talking about almost thirty different levels – so they appeal to a huge range of children.

The beauty of tapping into these books is that you can match them up exactly with your child’s current ability. Rather than pulling a book off the shelf and hoping for the best, this sort of reading can align with their current knowledge and help them progress.

Nursery rhymes and songs can help no-end

Granted, this first point may only impact those of you who have slightly younger children, but it’s still an invaluable tip.

As we all know, car journeys tend to be full of nursery rhymes during those early years. This is something that you should try and cling onto for as long as possible, as this is an excellent way in which you can really build their phonemic awareness. Studies have shown that kids pick up sounds and syllables much quicker through songs, and this can only help their reading no-end.

Bedtime reading is a must

In truth, it doesn’t have to be bedtime reading, it can happen at any point during the day. The point we are trying to make is that the process of you and your child reading together is invaluable during their reading progress.

However, this isn’t just about the reading itself, it’s also about comprehension. Make sure you keep asking them questions about the book, to make sure that they’re not just pronouncing words, but they are thinking about what they are reading as well.

Make the most of printed materials

Sure, we might be living in a digital world, but try and make things as print-like as possible for your little ones. By this, we mean that you should take advantage of posters, books and anything else that you can flood their bedroom with. If they can keep setting their eyes on printed words, they will gradually become much more familiar with them and it will help their reading ability no-end.