LITTLE READER

Reading can be a wonderful daily routine opportunity for you and your child to connect. It’s a nice way to spend time together and help your child develop his listening and reading skills.

Did you know that when you sing to your baby you are actually helping him develop necessary skills to be a good reader later on? When you sing with your child, he will develop his listening skills and his auditory attention and both will help your child at a later stage to identify rhymes and sounds.

Reading involves many skills. One of the most important is identifying sounds; when he begins to recognize that each letter makes a sound. Recognizing rhymes is when he can tell that two words end with similar sounds, thus the importance of the all famous Dr. Suess. Gradually your child begins to blend or put together sounds to make words. Another key skill is segmenting or breaking down words into sounds. Once these skills are attained, he will start experimenting with his new found skills and change sounds to make new words. That’s not all! The end result is reading comprehension, the fact that we need to understand what we are reading.

Familiarize your toddler with pictures which you can read with lots of facial expressions and different voice tones. Reading the stories over and over will provide the opportunity for him to fill in the words he learned.

Books are not the only reading material. You can also develop his reading skills by reading the label on his favorite snack, and play “let’s find” where else we can read the same letter.

Sometimes, a child might have difficulty in pronouncing sounds, which might affect his reading skills. Other difficulties that a child might have and could affect his reading are his hearing and / or his auditory processing skills.

To find out if your child has good prerequisite reading skills, fill out ONESTI’s developmental screening checklist and set him on track to becoming a great reader!

Here are some strategies for using books effectively with toddlers

  • Use books to initiate conversation with toddlers. Ask them to pretend that they are the actual characters in the book and what they think will happen next in the story. On another occasion ask your child how the story ends, this will help him train his prediction skills, an important cognitive ability that is used in reading.
  • Encourage children to ask questions about stories in order to get them more involved and to increase self awareness. This will help them be more engaged and become active learners.
  • Choose books that use word games. For example, creating words with the alphabet, including rhyming words, would be of high interest to children. Rhyming and sound awareness are considered the milestones for reading and spelling.

Keep in mind:

  1. Children learn quickly the words they hear most frequently.
  2. Children learn words about things or events that are of interest to them. Make sure to teach them in context. These contexts might include “read aloud”, “fill in the blank sentences”; and for older children use “read and respond” activities. You can also play “I spy” with them and ask them to name all the things in the room.
  3. Children learn words better when they’re part of an interaction than when kids are passive. Ask them questions about these words, praise when they use these new words effectively, and encourage them to create rhymes with the new words.
  4. Children learn words best when they understand their meaning. Adults should explain the meaning of the words, and make sure the child has understood it properly. Make sure to remind the child of the new word regularly to ensure long-term encoding.
  5. Children learn words best when grammar and vocabulary are properly explained. For example, a word may be a verb, an adjective, an adverb, etc. Make sure to give clear examples so the child can use the new word with correct syntax.