Development of Reading Readiness in Your Child
Development of Reading Readiness in Your Child
Every parent wants his/ her child to do well in academics. This academic success is based on many factors, one of which is child’s reading abilities. In the hierarchy of learning language, reading develops after speaking and before writing. Formal education which commences form standard 1 is based on how much a child can read, comprehend and appropriately respond to the related questions.
Read tips to improve your child’s reading skills here.
Reading success is in turn based on reading readiness which means child’s capability of learning to read OR child’s readiness to learn to read . In this article, various pre reading skills which are important for developing reading skill are highlighted.
When should you start reading to your child?
It is never too early to start reading to your child. Your baby started recognizing your voice when they were in your womb. They love listening to you sing and talk. The same holds good for reading. According to research, the sooner you start reading to your child, the better it is for their child development.
Now you may wonder, “My baby won’t really understand anything that I read? What really is the benefit of reading to them so early?” or “My child is too young to attend to books”. Yes, it is completely natural to have these thoughts. Of course, your baby may not understand the stories that you read to them. But, reading is not the only skill that develops when you start reading to your child. There are so many added advantages of reading. So, don’t worry about your child’s age. No matter how old your child is, you can start reading to your child.
Parents should work on these skills first before introducing formal letter reading. Using various activity sheets, the following skills should be worked on :
1. Visual Identification Skill
Identification ability using visual stimuli is an important skill . It encompasses various sub-skills like,
- ability to match similar pictures
- identifying matching lines/ shapes
- identifying named pictures
- Identifying part in the picture and
- identification of named part of the picture
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2. Visual Discrimination Skill
Visual Discrimination means the ability to differentiate between two visual stimuli. In simple words, using this skill, a child is able to recognise the likeness and differences between two objects. The objects could be shapes, colours, forms, people etc. Following activities could be done to develop this skill.
- Finding missing items in the picture. A child is shown two similar pictures. One picture having many items and the second picture in which a few items have been deleted/ removed . A child needs to identify the differences between the two pictures.
- Finding the shape missing in the pattern
- Finding odd one out
Here is a list of awesome books to read to your child!
3. Visual analysis
- Sequencing pictures in correct order
- Drawing the missing part
- Finding mistake in a picture
4. Visual tracking
It is a type of visual perceptual skill which involves ability to track a path between two objects. In simple words, an ability to look at something and follow it as it moves or track a line. It could be done with or without lead. An example is given below:
a) Visual tracking with lead
b) Visual tracking without lead
5. Identification of letters and sight words
1. Matching , identifying similar clusters of letters
For example,
Encircle the letter b among the letters below
d d d b d b d d d b
2. Matching letters to words beginning with those letters
For example,
3. Matching pictures to names
Tips to use newspaper to get your child read and learn.
6. Visual memory
It includes remembering simultaneously presented visual items . A child is shown a picture with various objects in it. After a few seconds, while hiding this pictures, a few objects from the picture are revealed and the child is asked to recollect & indicate pictures of objects that were seen in the initial picture.
In short, using various activities, reading readiness should be worked upon as it would help in better reading skill development . So, think, Is your child reading ready ?
This article has been written by Neha Tiwari, Speech Language Pathologist & Audiologist, Founder & Director of Sachetataa.
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