The ability to read is very useful to promote the linguistic and intellectual development of children, since reading stimulates better oral expression in children, serves to enrich and improve their vocabulary and also encourages their learning about various topics. and content from an early age.
To know how to help my child read, I must take into account a series of tips like these: prior learning of letters, learning to mix sounds through the formation of syllables, reading simple sentences and, finally, making it able to give meaning to reading sentences and texts in order to improve their reading fluency and comprehension.
In this article you will find brief tips that can help you know how to help your child read with useful guidelines to support your educational development from home.
The importance of knowing how to read from childhood
Knowing how to read correctly, meaning that we can read fluently and comprehensively, knowing what we have read, is essential because reading is one of the main tools that human beings have available to learn: communicating with others, being up to date with the news and, among many other things, also to understand most of our environment where we can find posters, signs, signs, instructions.
In short, there are words everywhere that serve as a guide to guide us in many moments.
Furthermore, reading is one of the fundamental bases of the education that we receive during a long period of our lives, training us academically to be able to access the world of work and also allows us to prepare for life in general through a series of knowledge, the which They also serve as a basis for developing new skills and learning since learning lasts a lifetime.
For all this, books can be of great help to acquire new knowledge, develop a greater vocabulary that allows us to understand things better and also opens the doors to new stories, worlds and characters that we know through all types of novels. and essays, being means to transmit certain stories much more complex and rich in details than audiovisual; although this does not mean that you have to opt for one or the other, since you can enjoy both at the same time and expand your knowledge through the novel.
On the other hand, It is important that the boy or girl learns to see reading as a pleasure that helps him or her discover new worlds and an important tool to learn all kinds of interesting things and not as an obligation or an arduous task; since if the child does not manage to enjoy reading, it will be difficult for him to awaken an interest in learning, making it difficult for him to develop a continuous reading habit over time.
That is why a series of tips and guidelines to follow will be explained below to know how to help your child learn to develop their ability to read texts.
How to help your child read: basic tips
It is important to act as models, since children learn largely through imitation of their parents and older siblings, so It can be very helpful for parents to show their child the habit of reading daily so that they imitate that behavior Before the child knows how to read, parents must be the ones who read stories to their child every day.
To awaken the child’s interest in reading, it can be very helpful if we start reading to him every night before he goes to sleep, as this could help him feel curious about stories and tales, in addition to being a good start. so that you learn how to intonation, make inflections in your voice when reading.
On the other hand, beyond these types of routines, keep in mind the guidelines that you will find below.
1. Teach him the letters
Teaching him the letters of the alphabet is a very good first step. It is not necessary to always do it in alphabetical order, although it would be interesting learn the vowel letters at first to be able to start reading syllables or simple words in which vowels appear next to the first consonant letters that you have been learning, to increase the level of difficulty as you progress in learning the letters.
It is important to note that for a child to know a letter well, he or she must be able to do two things: first You must be able to identify it visually and, secondly, you must have memorized the sound that is associated with it to be able to pronounce it.
On the other hand, for the child to memorize each letter more easily at the beginning of his learning, it can be very useful for him to draw each letter he learns in a considerable size and then color and cut it out. You can also do another series of exercises (e.g., building each letter you learn with clay) that help reinforce the learning of each letter, since a single exposure or through explanations is not enough for the child to understand them. memorize This step is very important, so it requires not being in a hurry and adapting to the child’s needs.
2. Mix sounds by putting two letters together
The second thing to do is mix sounds by putting two letters together to form a syllable It is a step that is quite linked to the previous one, since when you have learned to recognize and pronounce the letters of the alphabet, you must immediately move on to reading words.
First we can start using simple words to point to each of the letters and we will pronounce the sound of each one. Next, We slowly slide our finger from the beginning of the word towards the end in order to pronounce each of the syllables. Finally, we must ask the child to do it alone without our help.
It is important to select simple words at the beginning, since for the moment the most important thing is that you stick with the sounds resulting from the formation of syllables.
3. Work with words that contain the same lexeme
The third step to follow consists of doing exercises in which the child is presented with a series of words that contain the same lexeme (the invariable part of a word), so that it can reinforce the knowledge of word families and also to begin to associate certain sets of words with a certain topic (e.g., cooking, cooking, cook or music, musician, musical, etc.).
This exercise can show the child that by knowing how to read each letter and each syllable, they would be able to read words that they do not know or have ever read.
4. Start reading simple sentences
The fourth step is carried out once you begin to master phonetic skills; by forming different syllables, You should start reading simple sentences in order to develop reading comprehension
This will be a crucial step where you can begin to read your first stories or, at least small fragments of them, so it is important that the child is the one who selects what he wants to read in order to awaken his interest in the story even more. the reading.
5. Give meaning to reading sentences and texts
The fifth step to follow would begin once the child is able to read simple sentences. Here we move on to reading longer sentences and texts, in order for the child to begin to derive meaning from what to read, thus developing greater reading comprehension. The objective of this step is for the child to be able to get a key idea of ​​what is happening in the story he is reading, it being important that he is the one who chooses the story and that it is not complex.
For the child to develop greater reading comprehension, you can help him by asking him questions about what he is reading and also encouraging him to reread those sentences or fragments of the text that he has not understood.
Once all these steps have been mastered, the child should be encouraged to develop the habit of reading daily long enough to improve in terms of pronunciation, fluency and reading comprehension, thus reaching the point of choosing to read increasingly complex books. that provide greater enrichment.
