6 Simple Ways to Teach Your Child to Read
It is a great honor and privilege to give parents and caregivers the tools and strategies you need to create a love for reading right from birth. The skills of reading might be taught in schools, but the love of reading is taught at home. If you spend quality time each day with your child by surrounding them with rich literary experiences, your child will not have to go through the struggle of learning all the “rules” of reading later in school. Here are 6 simple ways to teach your child to read without ever opening a curriculum book.
“Children are made readers on the laps of their parents.” –Emilie Buchwald
1. Read Aloud to Your Children
Sitting with your child for 15-30 minutes a day will make a huge difference in your child learning to enjoy books at an early age. Reading with your child for 30 minutes every day from birth to age 5 totals 54,750 minutes (over 900 hours). Reading to your child once a week for 30 minutes is only 7,800 minutes (130 hours).
Nearly 75% of parents with children ages 0–5 say they started reading aloud to their child before age one. However, only 30% say they began before the age of three months. Parents need to begin this habit from the moment they are born. On the other end of the spectrum, reading aloud to children sees a significant drop off after Grade 1. Reading to your child does not stop once they learn how to read for themselves. This important habit should continue as long as they live in your home.
2. Buy (or Borrow) More Books
There is a strong correlation between how many books you have in your home and a child’s language development. Gifts for birthdays, holidays, etc. should all include quality books. How to Get your Child to Love Reading by Esme Raji Codell is a superb resource with hundreds of book recommendations. To get you started today, books guaranteed to please:
Start at your local library, hit the yard sales, and map out a few local bookstores to visit regularly. There is a huge initiative to encourage parents to read 1,000 books before Kindergarten. The number of words a child knows entering Kindergarten is a key predictor in his or her future success.
3. No TV Before Kids Are 2 Years Old
My sister-in-law gave me Brain Rules for Baby by John Medina when I was pregnant with my first daughter. In this life-changing book, I learned that your child’s brain is 80% developed by the time they are 2 years old. It is imperative that your child’s language development needs to begin at birth through reading, singing, speaking, and listening. Medina lays out clear evidence that screen time (TV, iPad, Kindle, etc.) is harmful to a child under 2 years old.
When my oldest daughter was born, I was incredibly tempted to give up and abandon this philosophy so many times. There were many days I was exhausted or on a 20-hour plane ride alone and wanted to give in. However, I was determined to replace that screen time with language acquisition. I whole-heartedly believe the battle was well worth it to see her language ability years later as a result.
4. Closed Captioning Is a Must
As soon as your child turns 2 and you introduce TV as a learning resource, it is crucial that you use closed captioning. In the country of Finland, they use closed captioning and same-language subtitles to promote literacy. Even though Finnish children begin formal reading instruction at the seemingly late age of seven years old, they consistently score the highest in the world in standardized reading tests compared to other countries. Finnish families are some of the highest users of closed captioning, and they attribute this be the reason for their high literacy rates.
In The Read Aloud Handbook by Jim Trelease, he explains the 30:1 ratio of visual receptors over auditory receptors in the brain. Research shows that the chances of a word (or sentence) being retained in our memory bank are thirty times greater if we see it instead of just hear it. Trelease calls it the “sponge effect.” Due to Finland’s Ministry of Education bringing global awareness to their philosophy, U.S. legislation was passed in 1990, making the closed-captioning chip mandatory in all U.S. TV sets.
5. Use Engaging Curriculum
In Scholastic’s annual survey, they found three powerful predictors that children will be frequent readers:
- the child’s reading enjoyment
- parents who are frequent readers
- the child’s belief that reading for fun is important
The American Academy of Pediatrics notes that the critical factor of how a student will learn to read “is not how aggressively,” the child is given instruction, but rather their “own enthusiasm for learning.” They also state that many early learning programs “interfere with the child’s natural enthusiasm” by imposing on children to “concentrate on tasks” when they aren’t ready.
Formal reading curriculum such as Teach Your Child to Read in 100 Easy Lessons will produce short-term results. However, some parents view them as dry and counterproductive. It is vital that parents do not make negative connections to reading early on. When, and ONLY when your child shows interest and signs of wanting to read, choose a curriculum that will be an enjoyable experience. Personally, I urge parents to read quality literature often, sing and play music, and have children keep a journal.
However, if you are going to use a formal curriculum, for age 3 and up, I suggest Pearson Learning’s Sing, Spell, Read & Write based on the SIOP model that guarantees quality instruction through clear objectives. This program makes the lessons comprehensible through different strategies such as building background. For example, a lesson will make a connection with your child through academics or culture. They link past learning concepts to new concepts so the content builds upon schema. New vocabulary is limited so that key vocabulary can be emphasized and new vocabulary is given in context.
6. Teach Your Child Another Language
Multi-lingual children continue to score higher in reading on standardized tests than monolingual children once they begin school. Most parents use popular toys to help their child increase their stamina and focus on mental tasks. Consequently, introducing two or more languages to a child at an early age accelerates this process. Multi-lingual children see and hear communication in different languages with different people, so eventually, they have to figure out the puzzle of what to say, who to say it to, and when.
According to Adam Beck in Maximize your Child’s Bilingual Ability, starting to learn multiple languages before 2 years old is key. Multi-lingual children can focus on information or a task without being distracted when compared to monolingual children. A multi-lingual child can keep focused on abstract ideas and reasoning skills because of their exposure as infants to solving language puzzles. Keep in mind, the goal is to spend 25 hours a week in meaningful language immersion to become bilingual.
In short, you do not need a fancy or expensive curriculum to successfully teach your child to read. Give your child the gift of your time, and I guarantee the results will be astonishing, and perhaps even life-long.
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