How Parents Can Give Their Child a Head Start in Reading
Parents can introduce literacy before kindergarten to give children a better likelihood of success
The National Assessment of Educational Progress indicates that only 35% of America’s fourth-grade students are reading at grade level. Almost two-thirds of our nation’s children are at risk of falling behind in all subject areas because they cannot read.
If children aren’t able to read and understand grade-level material, they will be more likely to grow frustrated, and to give up altogether. This problem begins long before children reach fourth grade.
The National Center for Learning Disabilities provides a readiness checklist for kindergarten. However, many kindergarteners are showing up to school without the necessary prerequisite skills to become students. This list includes items such as talking in complete sentences, following directions, talking about stories that have been read to them, knowing how to handle a book, and beginning knowledge of letters, especially those in their name.
Introducing children to reading skills may seem like a daunting task to parents who are not trained reading teachers. Many argue that learning these skills before kindergarten is not developmentally appropriate.
