Of the many health concerns we can have about our children, one of the biggest things we may not necessarily consider when our children are really young is if they are able to take to reading and general comprehension. While there are many different strategies to take, remember that you’re not alone. You may be concerned that you did something wrong and that you’ve had a major impact on your child in this respect if they’re not at the same level as other children their age, but the fact is that at least 20% of children have had difficulty in learning to read. In the meantime, there’s a lot that you can do.
Make the Practice as Stress-Free as Possible
Reading aloud is the first port of call because this doesn’t just make for great bonding time, but it helps your child to experience the sounds of words. But when there are additional issues, such as undiagnosed dyslexia, it’s important to remember that learning how to help a child with dyslexia has a lot to do with practice and understanding what the words look like for them. But if you can focus on making reading as stress-free as possible, this is going to help everybody maintain a more positive attitude. This is where choosing books that are best for their reading level is invaluable. You should never go beyond what you think their comprehension is, and this is for the very simple reason that one day they will surprise you and have shot up in every single way!
Use Audiobooks
This is another approach that’s great because it gives your child access to a wider vocabulary without them having to go through bigger words themselves. Audiobooks are great because you can play them on car journeys, there are plenty of resources online like Audible but there are also plenty of great audiobooks on YouTube.
Work With the Teacher
Your child’s teacher will have one point of view of how your child is doing, and you may very well be concerned and they may not be, but you need to have a good working relationship with your child’s teacher and ask for additional materials they could send home or ask for extra resources. The fact is that even if you have a difference of opinion with the teacher, they have been teaching children for a long time, so they will have a wide variety of tools that they can suggest to you.
Do Not Worry About What Level They Should Be
This is why reading aloud is so important. Even if your child is not reading at a certain level, you are still exposing them to numerous words and concepts. Because reading aloud is one of the best methods to help your child engage with the material, it is something that you can continue to do for years after they are more than capable of reading themselves. Even if you think your child is struggling with reading, there’s a lot of help at hand!
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