How To Help Your Child Learn To Read

It's tempting to tell your child words he doesn't know and 'hope' that he'll remember them, but there are far more effective ways to help an early reader.

Firstly, it's really important to make sure the level of the text he's reading is right for his current reading skill. This is because CONFIDENCE IS EVERYTHING. If a child is continually trying to read books that are too difficult he will have very little confidence in his ability, and if he's not already 'disengaged' with reading, he's very likely to be heading in that direction.

Children who are weak at reading want to be better. They tend to choose books that are too difficult for them and pretend they are better than they really are. It can be very difficult to get across to a child that this won't help them improve. Many, many times I've seen children choose books that are way beyond them from the classroom or the library, and just look at the pictures while pretending to read. This is a complete waste of time.

My article

What to do if your child keeps bringing home books that are too difficult

tells you what to do about this.

There are a couple of other important things I should mention. The older a child is, the more resistant he is likely to be to reading simple text. This is because it's scarier for him to expose his true level of reading. Understandably, he doesn't want to be seen reading 'baby' books. (In the above article I tell you how to get over this problem.) The second important thing to know is that although 'high interest, low skill' books are usually presented to children who really are struggling with reading, often these books are still too difficult. If, however, a child has basic reading skills but just doesn't like reading, they are fantastic because the topics ARE very engaging. But I know of many children who can't read them and everybody is wondering what's wrong. Often they will be tested for learning disabilities, only to find out they don't have any...they're just very weak at reading!

If your child can't read 95% of the text independently it's not appropriate to ask him to read it by himself, and to build up confidence he NEEDS to be able to read some books by himself.

When a child who has struggled for years realises he can actually read, it really is a wonderful moment... for him, for you and for his teacher. Believe me, a child knows when he is reading, and not just 'reading' text he's memorised. I think, out of all the experiences I've had teaching children who are struggling, the moment when a child says in amazement 'I can read!' is the one that most makes me want to cry with joy.

So, on to the real topic of this article...

Assuming you've found a book, or series of books that suits your child's level and there are five or fewer words per page that he doesn't know. What do you say to help him when he reaches the first unknown word? What sort of prompting is appropriate?

When he hesitates before attempting a word, say 'Can you see something in the picture to help you?' or 'What's happening in the story?' or 'What's the information about in this book?' (The last one applies to informational books only.)

When he's had a go at reading the word (whether correctly or incorrectly), ask him 'Does that make sense?'.

If he reads it incorrectly, ask 'What would make sense there?'

These sort of prompts are about the meaning of the text.

You can also prompt him to use his knowledge of how language works and the structure of oral language and grammar.

When he hesitates before attempting a word, say 'What would sound right there?'

When he's had a go at reading the word (whether correctly or incorrectly, ask 'Can we say it that way?'

If he reads the word incorrectly, say 'Try again and think what would come next.)

Another appropriate way to prompt him is by getting him to focus on the visual information he understands in the word. By this I mean initial letters or clusters or patterns of letters and the sound they make. Looking for smaller words he knows within the unknown word can also be helpful. When he hesitates before attempting a word, say 'What does it start with?' or 'Can you start to say the word?' or 'Can you get your mouth ready to say the word?'.

When he's had a try at saying the word (whether correctly or incorrectly), ask 'Do you know another word that looks like that?' or 'You said...... Does that look right?'

If he reads the word incorrectly, say 'What could you try?' or 'What do you think it could be?' or 'Do you know a word that starts with those letters?' or 'What do you know that might help?'

Read more to find out how much help you should give, and which books I've used with great success.