Books that combine other senses besides listening help your small child to comprehend the story as you read it. For example, read many books that have pictures, tactile pages, sounds, or have accompanying scents. Try reading them books that might slightly challenge their comprehension level but that have an interesting or engaging story. [1] X Research source
Help to teach your child critical thinking skills by asking open-ended questions about stories. You might not hear complex verbal responses until your child is four or five years old, but ask away and be patient.
Because your child may be touching and reading the books often, be sure to choose ones that have wipeable pages and that aren’t incredibly sentimental. Pop-up books may not be the best option for young children. A fancy bookshelf may seem like the most attractive option, but until your child is in school focus on the utilitarian purposes of book storage. Set up a reading space next to the bookshelf. Set some beanbags, pillows, and comfy chairs around to sit in while reading. The top of the bookshelf can hold cups and snacks for having while reading.
Include your child in your reading time. If you’re reading something child-friendly, tell them about what you’re reading. Accompany this by pointing to words on the page to help them connect the lines on the page with the sounds that form words.
That being said, don’t turn down a request to re-read a favorite book just because it’s already been read a dozen times. [2] X Research source
Teach lowercase letters first. Capital letters account for only five percent of all letters in writing English. Therefore, pay more attention to teaching the lowercase letters. lowercase letters are far more important in developing reading skills. Try making each of the letters out of play-DOH, playing a toss game (where the child tosses a beanbag/ball onto a specific letter on the floor), or fishing for foam letters in the bathtub. These are all interactive games that encourage development on multiple levels. [4] X Research source
Focus on a single letter/part/sound at a time. Avoid confusion and build a solid foundation by working at a steady pace through all of the speech sounds. Give real life examples of each speech sound; for example, state that the letter ‘A’ makes the ‘ah’ sound, like at the beginning of the word ‘apple. ’ This can be turned into a guessing game, when you speak an easy word (like apple) and have the child guess the letter that it starts with. Use games similar to those used when teaching the alphabet, that combine critical thinking on the part of the child in order to determine sound/letter correlations. See the aforementioned list for ideas, but substitute in sounds. It is easier for children to develop phonemic awareness when words are broken down into their smallest parts. This can be done with the clapping game (clapping out each syllable in a word) or by sounding-out words into their individual letters. [5] X Research source
Don’t move onto explicit phonics until your child has developed adequate phonemic awareness. If they cannot associate sounds with letters or letter pairs quickly, they need a bit more practice before moving onto complete words.
Don’t use whole stories or books yet; have your child read from word lists or from a basic story (not focusing on the plot). This is another great time to use rhymes for practice. Decoding aloud is typically easier for the child (and you) to learn how to say the word. Have them break it into parts with clapping if necessary. Do not be rigid in how the child pronounces the sounds. Regional accents and weak auditory skills make it hard for children to say most sounds in an academically correct way. Accept a reasonable effort. Recognize that learning sounds is only an intermediate step to learning to read, it is not the goal. [6] X Research source
Show your child sight words on a piece of paper. Le them copy it and after telling them what the word is, ask them to tell YOU what the words is.
Allow your child to look at the pictures - it doesn’t count as cheating if they do. Image and word association is a helpful aspect of building vocabulary.
Make a questions list that your child can read; their ability to read and understand the provided questions is nearly as helpful as answering the questions themselves. Start with direct questions, such as ‘who was the main character in the book?,’ instead of more abstract questions like ‘why was the main character upset?’
You’ll notice an enhanced reading ability as your child learns to spell by decoding and sounding out words. Work slowly though, and don’t expect perfection.
Reading out loud doesn’t have to be limited to stories; whenever you are around words, have your child sound them out to you. Road signs are a great example of something your child sees on a daily basis, and can practice reading out loud to you.
