When Will My Child Read?

 Who doesn’t want their child to experience the feeling of curling up with a favorite book, or being able to write a note, read instructions or a story to a younger sibling? These are things we all want for our children. But how do we make sure they are staying on track with learning how to read?

From speaking their first sentence, your child is on their way to reading. Language development starts at a very young age when children learn their native tongue and have an exponentially expanding vocabulary. Then they soon notice that these words, particularly their name, are made up of characters that eventually we discover have their own sounds. Children, for the most part, make all of these discoveries on their own.

Often, we find children move with relative ease into writing their name, their family names and lists of favorite things. Often sounded out phonetically and not always spelled correctly, they will spend a great deal of time in this phase. The leap to reading from a book can happen quickly or take more time.

Moving from writing their own words to reading what someone else has written is a giant leap. They must first sound out, then put the words together into a sentence and finally, understand and absorb what the author is trying to say.

So what can you do at home to support language development and inspire a love of reading?

Follow the child. In most instances a child will want to write well before they are ready to read. This is them making a connection to the written word as a method of communication. Provide a lot of plain paper, writing pencils, sidewalk chalk, markers, etc. and let them make their lists, practice letters or just scribble.

Start the introduction of letters in a phonetic way. Refer to an “a” with its short sound as in the words “cat,” “mat,” etc. children will spend a lot of time practicing these sounds and writing the letter form. Get some physical letters to practice with so that you can begin to put sounds together to make words.

Label your environment. Make slips of paper that can provide children the opportunity to put a word with an item. Children will do this activity over and over and will begin to notice the initial sound of items around the house.

Most importantly, be patient. Do not push book reading until the child has requested practice in this area. Keep reading to them and make it fun. 

It is very important to always read to your child as long as they are interested. Even if they are 10! The time we share with our children while experiencing all that the literary world has to offer is truly priceless. Enjoy this very special time.