Encouraging Early Reading Skills In Your Preschool Child
Pre-schoolers (infants, toddlers, 3- and 4-year olds) have an amazing capacity to learn speech sounds, language, and early reading skills. More so than we think.
Pre-schoolers are able to learn these in a fun, play situation. They don’t even know they are learning. They are like sponges – ready to absorb so much information into their knowledge. It is exciting to watch. Meanwhile pre-schoolers can also be given positive feedback about their ability to learn and what they are learning. They come to believe in themselves as competent learners. And they are.
Parents and those working in early childhood education have many magical opportunities to help pre-schoolers learn language, pre-reading and early reading skills. There is much for parents and Early Childhood Educators to know, so they can do this.
Tips:
For younger pre-schoolers:
• When reading a story every time you turn the page, say out loud, “turn the page”. The child sees and hears what you are doing and learns the direction for reading a book.
You will know when your child knows this because they will tell you to do it. This means you don’t need to do that again, except to continue with more, new tips.
• Before reading a story book, say the title and move your finger from one word to the next while saying it. Then you can say something like “that’s the title” or “that’s the name of the story”.
For 4-year olds.
- Before reading the story, you can point to where you start reading, and say something like “that’s where we start reading”.
You will know when your child knows this because they can tell you where to start. - When reading stop every now and then to ask your child if he/she knows the meaning of a certain word in the text. Explain what the word means.
Sometimes children need some support with their speech and language development, for no apparent reason. Sometimes health conditions interrupt speech and language development, for example hearing loss associated with middle ear infections. If concerned about your child’s speech and language development, doesn’t matter his/her age, contact an experienced Speech-Language Therapist to check it out. It is better to know for sure than wish you had.