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What a Parent Can Do at Home
By Amy Pedigo, Director of Education, Let's Go Learn, Inc.

Reading may be one of the most important skills your child acquires during school years, second only to thinking skills. As adults, we take in tons of information through written language. Without proper reading skills, this information would be cut-off from us. Remember that no cares more about your child's reading skills than you do, you need to monitor your child's skills for any warning signs. Reading issues are best addressed early. Certain things can be done at home to aid you in this journey.

What can I do to help my beginning reader?

Children of preschool age and beginning Kindergarteners are considered "beginning readers." Some educators talk about "reading readiness." You can do all of the obvious things; teaching your child the ABC song, teaching your child how to write his or her name. In addition, you can help your child to become more aware of the principles of reading; point to each word as you read aloud to your child, help your child understand that you are reading from the top of the page downward and from left to right. Assist your child to recognize that some letters are big (capitals) and some letters are small. Your child will likely pick up good reading habits from you; children learn by example. Explain to your child that it is important to read certain things for pertinent information, "I am reading the menu to see what they cook here." "I am reading the schedule to see what time the airplane will get here." "I am reading the sign to make sure we turn on the right street." "I am reading this can to see what kind of soup is inside." This kind of reading awareness will prove to be a good foundation for your beginning reader.

What can I do to help my school-age reader?

For children who are already reading successfully in school there are still things that you can do to bolster good reading habits. Encourage your child to communicate with written language. Instead of calling grandma, write her a letter or a postcard or an email. Decide on a certain number of letters that your son or daughter should write a month, you should participate too. "We are all going to write one letter a week to grandma." Set aside a specific time of the day or week for silent reading, or family reading. You can increase the time in the summer. Choose a chapter book and have each person in the family read one page aloud to the group. Discuss the events from the story and encourage your kids to speculate on what will happen next. If your child is assigned a novel or chooses a book for a book report, you should read it too. Reading the book yourself will help you to discuss the book with your child and have a keen eye on your child's understanding of the story. Coax your child to read things for you; "You read the recipe and tell me what to do." "You read the directions to me while I drive." "You read

What can I do if my kid doesn't like to read?

What can you do if your child doesn't like to read? You can find out why. "My kid just doesn't like to read," is a phrase often spoken by parents of children with reading issues. Not that every single child on earth who doesn't enjoy reading is a poor reader, but when asked most poor readers will say they don't care for reading. As humans we generally enjoy doing things that come easy for us, kids good at soccer love to play soccer, good cooks love cooking, and good readers usually enjoy reading. If your child doesn't like to read, it is certainly a sign worth looking into. It might be nothing but it might be something. If your child sincerely doesn't like reading, there may be series of reasons; 1) Your child may have a hard time sounding words out. This may make reading slow and tedious, not enjoyable to anyone. You may find this kind of student tries to guess at the words he or she cannot sound out. 2) Your child may have a hard time memorizing words that cannot be sounded out. Some readers can sound out words but they may do it slowly and then it seems that they can't get past sounding out words. I have had teachers tell me, "I finally taught him how to sound out words, now I can't get him to stop." This kind of student may sound out every word, even words he or she just sounded out a moment earlier. This makes reading smoothly almost impossible. Comprehension is also very difficult when reading is slow and wearisome. 3) Your child may read all of the words fine but still not enjoy reading. This same child may not understand what he or she just read and may have a hard time understanding what was read aloud. Either way, if you suspect that your child avoids reading because he or she may have a difficulty with reading, contact your teacher or school or have a comprehensive reading assessment performed on your child. Early detection means early correction.

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