How to teach a child to read: 13 tips for parents

Many parents face a problem when children flatly refuse to take up a book. Teaching a child to read is an important item on their ‘great parents’ to do list. It is vital to instill a love for the book so that reading is not a necessity, but a pleasant and interesting activity. Based on the research of neuropsychologists and teachers, we have compiled a list of tips that will help your son or daughter at an early age become interested in fairy-tale worlds. Nicola — Smart Parental Control

1. Set an example

Your own example is crucially important for the overall success. It’s one thing — a family in which parents spend their evenings with a book or newspaper, and quite another — when the father can not tear himself away from the computer, and the mother who does not miss a single episode of her favorite TV series. It is natural that a small child will not reach for the alphabet or a picture book if there is a tablet or a smartphone with games. So what do you do? Read yourself! A small child, looking at you and your happy smile when reading, will understand that you know some secret. Surely he will want to join the sacrament.

2. Appreciate

From the early years of your child, pay attention to the fact that the book has is a value, not just paper and text wrapped in a colored cover. Do not discard or scatter books. The book is not a toy, so you should not allow children to tear pages or draw on them. In each house there should be a bookcase, and if you do not need any books anymore, they can be handed to the library or shared with friends.

3. Read out loud

Start with reading aloud — only in this way the child can learn to read, pronouncing sounds and gradually understanding the interrelationships of letters, syllables and words. Children enjoy when parents play fairy tales by roles, and then they themselves are interested in the reading process. Pass the initiative — a child can read to you, a grandmother, a favorite toy or a pet — the listener is easy to find. Nicola — the only app that can track reading!

4. Praise

Yes, do not forget to praise for reading. Recognize your child when he or she correctly pronounces complex words and does not hurry. Praise, encouragement with a chocolate or a toy will do their thing. The child will understand that reading is not so difficult, and that he can achieve even better results.

5. Make prolonged pauses

It’s simple: while reading a book, stop at the most interesting place. You pretend that you remember something and can not continue until you write down an important idea. The child will not wait long — he is interested in the continuation! If he already knows how to read, then he will take the book and read it for you. Or he will understand that you can not always read his favorite fairy tales, and to read it yourself, in general, it is still worth learning.

6. Visualize

A verse, a fairy tale, a story can not only be played in the faces, but also displayed in the drawing, symbols. So the child will understand the text better, and also remembering the “painted” verse is much easier. In addition to the fantasy of “here and now”, this method develops imagination that will be very useful in the future — at school lessons, at work, in difficult life situations.

7. Play

Some children have difficulty learning to read. First of all, this is due to the lack of games at an early age. Reading is also a game, as it involves imagination. Reading without the ability to represent objects and events is pointless. And if the child can not imagine and understand — he will be bored. Nicola — read to play! Develop reading skill!

8. Develop

Clients of neuropsychologists — children with impaired perception, attention, memory and logical thinking. Without all this, it is difficult to love reading. But it is possible to help such children.. For this, special development games have been developed. By giving them at least 20 minutes a day, you can achieve great success in reading! Games tied up on guessing letters, intonations, tongue twisters, associations will not seem boring lessons, they will want to return again and again.

9. Show the beauty of the world

Some children grow up literally in hothouse conditions: they rarely walk, move little, do not communicate with peers, and do not experience new emotions. That is, they do not receive life experience. It is difficult for such children to fantasize. Bumping into descriptions and phenomena that they have not seen in life, they do not understand the meaning, they are not interested. Therefore it is extremely important not only to spend time for the book, but also to show the child new pictures of the world. Discuss, pay attention to phenomena, touch objects, ask questions (“Look, this is a seagull.” Why do you think it’s flying so low? “).

10. Do not delegate

It takes a long time to teach a child to read. If he does not succeed, there is no desire, he protests — it will take even more time. Do not rely on teachers, you will cope no worse! The authority for your child is you, and you have the opportunity to approach each other, transfer to him your knowledge and skills, habits, love for certain books, authors and publishers. Do not neglect it.

11. Treat reading as a gift

Having fallen in love with “games in words,” the child will perceive these minutes and hours as a gift or a reward. Cleaned up the room? Well done! And now you can play. Through developmental games, smoothly turning into reading, children learn with interest and treat books. Let reading together become your favorite occupation. And then you will hear the question more often: when will we go reading?

12. Discuss

Turn the reading into an additional topic for conversation: discuss what you read, give examples and analogies. Why did the hero do this, and not otherwise? It will be easier to understand the motives of actions, remember the plot.

13. Turn the reading into a tradition

Make it a habit to spend at least a few days a week on the book — both alone and with the child. It was not for nothing that the tradition of evening readings existed, when the head of the family read out epoch-making works, and the whole family listened with bated breath. For this purpose, Sunday summer evenings are just perfect!

Nicola — Smart Parental Control

Nicola — The only app that can track reading!— Limit games and encourage self-learning. Schedule time for reading and playing. Motivate to read with bonus playtime