Before a
child learns to read, he or she must first learn the spoken language, and this
is one of the first instances where family members such as dad, mom, older
siblings, and grandparents play an important role in "teaching" the
child the spoken English language. Whether young children realize it or not,
they gain very early exposure to the alphabet when parents sing the alphabet
song to them. They begin to develop language skills by being read to and spoken
to. One of the keys to teaching children reading early on is by exposing them
to alphabet letters, books, and reading to them often.
Reading nursery rhymes and children's books
are an important part of getting children to understand printed text. Talk to
your children, and talk to them often, whether they understand or not is not
important when they're just babies. The more you talk and interact with your
little ones, the better they will develop. The key is exposure, and repeated
exposure. Once your child learns to speak, you can begin teaching them reading
at home.
I often hear parents say that they don't want
to "push" their child too hard. How can teaching your child to read
at a young age be considered "pushing" them too hard? If you as a
parent already have the mentality that reading is a chore, and teaching them to
read is pushing "too hard", you certainly can't expect your children
to be excited about learning reading. On the contrary, learning to read offers
a young child an opportunity for a lifetime to learn, discover, and enjoy the
wonders of reading. Parents (including myself) will often underestimate the
abilities and learning capabilities of young children. When we first began our
teaching reading program with our first child when she was 2 years and 8
months, little did we expect that in just a few short weeks, she would be
reading not just words, but sentences and story books. After about 3 months, by
the time she was 2 years 11 months old, our daughter could read "Step in
to Reading - step 2 (pre-school to grade 1 level)" books with some
guidance. The benefits of learning to read were apparent - improved speech
clarity, and better reading ability and reading comprehension.
There are no
shortage of studies which find many benefits in teaching children reading at an
early age. For example, one study administered a Stanford achievement test at
the start of kindergarten and then again at the end of grade one found that
early language based skills were highly associated with later academic performance
in school aged children. [1] Similar studies also found that a high level of
letter knowledge in kindergarten can reliably predict better later literacy
skills.[2] Having a home environment that's conducive to literacy growth is
critical in a child's development, and directly affects a child's language and
literacy development. Studies have found that responsiveness and support of the
home environment is the strongest predictor of children's language and early
literacy skills. [3] My point here is help make parents aware that children who
enter kindergarten with highly developed early reading skills will achieve
greater success with systematic reading education. [4]
It's never
too late to start home lessons and programs to teach your children to read.
Regardless how old your child is, starting a reading program at a young age
will have ample benefits. Start with lots of talking, singing, and reading to
your child right from birth, and once your child is able to speak, you can
start a simple reading program.
Begin with
teaching your child some basic letters and their sounds, and even as soon your
child learn just a few letters and their sounds, you can begin teaching them
simple blends using the letter knowledge that they have acquired. Work on ear
training with your child on oral blending and word segmentation. One of the
keys to teaching children read is developing phonemic awareness. Studies have
shown that phonemic awareness is one of the best predictors of reading success
in children.
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