Learning to read at a young age is important for the development of a child. Reading helps children develop a better understanding of their surroundings, allows them to gather information from printed materials, and provides them with a wonderful source of entertainment when they read stories and rhymes.
Children develop at different rates. Some children develop reading skills quicker than other children; however, what’s important is that as the parent, you are keenly aware of your child’s maturity and reading level to provide them with appropriate books and activities to help them improve.
As parents, you are the most important teacher for your children. You will introduce your child to books and reading. Below we have some tips to help you teach your child to read.
Teach Your Child How to Read Tip #1
Teach your child alphabet letters and sounds at the same time. Studies have shown that children learn best when they are taught the letter names and letter sounds at the same time. In one study, 58 preschool children were randomly assigned to receive instructions in letter names and sounds, letter sound only, or numbers (control group). The results of the study showed that children receiving letter name and sound instructions were most likely to learn the sounds of letters whose names included cues to the sounds [1].
When teaching your child the letter sounds, have them slowly trace the letter, while saying the sound of the letter at the same time. For example, if you were teaching your child the letter “A”, you would say:
“The letter A makes the /A/ (ah) sound.”
Then have your child say the /A/ sound while tracing the letter with his or her index finger.
Teach Your Child How to Read Tip #2
When teaching your child to read, always emphasize with them that the proper reading order should be from left to right, and top to bottom. To adults, this may seem so basic that anyone should know it. However, our children are not born with the knowledge that printed text should be read from left to right and top to bottom. You’ll sometimes see children reading from right to left because they were never explicitly taught to read from left to right. When teaching your child how to read, always emphasize this point with them.
Teach Your Child How to Read Tip #3
Teach final consonant blends first. Teaching words such as “at” and “and” can lead your child directly to learning words that rhyme with these. For example, for “at”, you can have:
Lat
Pat
Mat
Cat
Sat
Bat
Spat
Chat
For “and”, you can have the following rhyming words:
Sand
Band
Land
Hand
Stand
Bland
Brand
Grand
and so on…
You can start teaching blends once your child has learned the sounds of some consonants and short vowel sounds. You don’t need to wait until your child has mastered the sounds of all the letters before teaching blends.
Learning to read is a long process, but it doesn’t have to be a difficult process. Broken down into intuitive and logical steps, a child as young as two years old can learn to read, and older children can accomplish even more.
References:
1. J Exp Child Psychol. 2010 Apr;105(4):324-44. Epub 2010 Jan 25. Learning letter names and sounds: effects of instruction, letter type, and phonological processing skill. Piasta SB, Wagner RK. Preschool Language and Literacy Lab, The Ohio State University, Columbus, OH 43210, USA.
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These are proven truths!
Thank you for the note and the visit. Have a wonderful rest of the week.
At the moment I am learning Thai.
Different alfabet and different pronuncation ….
But I will use your advice.
Kind regards,
Rob Alberts recently posted…Thai aap, noot mies
Wow! You are an inspiration. Learning multiple languages is cool. I will give it a try. I am planning to learn Spanish because many people understand Spanish in our side of the USA.