Parents play strong roles in teaching kids reading

Spending a little time reading very day can pay off big
dividends later.

AUSTIN, Texas — If a child can’t read well by the end of third grade, he or she likely won’t become a strong reader.

Parents as well as teachers can play a big role in helping children develop strong reading skills, according to Stacey Joyner, a reading specialist and program associate with Southwest Educational Development Laboratory’s Texas Comprehensive Center.

Just spending a little time every day talking and reading with your child can make all the difference in his or her attitude about reading and how well reading skills develop, Joyner said.

It’s quality time with a dividend: Not only do you get to spend time with your child but that child becomes a better reader, she said.

There are lots of easy ways that parents can help their children build reading skills. According to the National Institute for Literacy, every minute you spend reading and talking with your child pays off. Just by talking to your child about whatever activity you are doing can help build literacy skills.

How to build skills

For example, while walking through the neighborhood with your child, ask questions about what you see along the way. Help the child hear the sounds in words when you talk.

“By helping your child learn to hear the different sounds in words, you are supporting one of the five critical skills that children need in order to learn to read well,” Joyner said. “That skill is called phonemic awareness. By hearing and saying rhymes, singing songs, clapping syllables, children focus on the sounds in the words.”

Parents can also help children learn the ABCs and the sounds each letter makes. The knowledge of how letters represent sounds is called phonics, and is also a critical skill that children need in order to read well.

Children can make the leap from talking to reading after they learn that written letters stand for the sounds they hear in words. You can begin by just helping your child learn the alphabet by saying or singing the alphabet, reading alphabet books and pointing out letters in the alphabet in names and words. You can also play games with your child to help them make the connection between words and sounds.

Vocabulary

A third important skill parents can help children with is building their vocabulary — simply the knowledge of new words.

“Learning new words begins early. A child learns most new words by hearing them in context and developing an understanding of what they mean,” Joyner said. Children with larger vocabularies have an easier time learning to read because the words make sense.

As children learn to read, parents can help just by listening to their child read regularly. The ability to identify words and comprehend quickly and accurately is the fourth critical skill: fluency.

You can take turns reading with your child.

“But make it fun,” says Joyner. “You don’t want your child to get discouraged or think that reading is just hard work.”

The fifth critical skill is comprehension, or understanding what is read. When reading a story to your child, help him or her understand by asking questions and talking about the story as you go along. Talking to your child about what they have read is a good way to improve critical thinking skills and understanding.