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.
SEE ALSO:
Teaching a Child to Read at an Early Age
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