In today’s podcast I’m putting on my teacher hat to share some info about reading skills. I’m sure every parent is concerned about the reported losses in academic gains due to COVID, but there are some things you can do to help you child improve his or her reading skills.
I was a special education teacher for many years and have a Master’s Degree in Special Education. I taught kids who had learning disabilities and/or ADHD. My suggestions today will be geared more for early childhood and elementary-age students. I will also be sharing some statistics and studies about reading skills.
According to the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching, if a child is a poor reader at the end of first grade, there is a 90 percent likelihood that, without some sort of additional help, they will remain a poor reader when they reach the end of fourth grade. And, according to the National Assessment of Educational Progress, 32 percent of fourth graders aren’t reading at a basic level.
Here are two simple ideas to help your child develop and improve their reading skills:
Strategy #1 Reading Aloud to Them: Reading aloud to your child is a proven way to promote cognitive development. Young children who have had lots of stories read to them enter kindergarten as much as 14 months ahead in language and pre-reading skills. While listening to stories, children pick up grammar, syntax and general knowledge. They also take in more sophisticated vocabulary.
Strategy #2—Reading Out Loud to a Dog: This strategy is geared for elementary-age students who are having reading difficulties. Research has shown that reading out loud to another person can improve overall reading performance in poor readers, but reading out loud to a dog improves reading comprehension even more! This strategy is particularly helpful because poor readers become painfully aware of people around them watching and judging them when they stumble over words, mispronounce words or stop and start frequently. The real casualty is that their self-esteem suffers and so does their motivation to read.
So how does this work?
1. Your child chooses a book at their current level of reading competency. (Your child’s teacher should be able to tell you that if you’re not sure.)
2. Your child sits and reads to their dog out loud. The dog provides a nonjudgmental and socially supportive presence which improves your child’s self-esteem and motivation to read.
3. While your child is reading to the dog, you or another adult sits next to them and offers help if they need prompting or support with unfamiliar words. These reading sessions don’t have to be long sessions—even 15 minutes a week over an 8-week period showed positive results.
Reading scores improved by both reading aloud to an adult and a dog, but the canine-assisted reading contributed to greater gains in both oral reading and reading comprehensi
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Thanks to my Virtual Assistant, Alyssa Avant (https://alyssaavantandcompany.com), for her tech genius and help with this podcast.