How children learn to read
All children are different, especially when it comes to growing and learning. Children will learn different things in different ways and at different rates. Learning to read is no exception. There are lots of things that you, as a parent or carer, can do to help the process, as talking and listening are the starting points for learning to read.
Most children are competent speakers by the age of three. Young children learn to make connections between spoken words and objects, and eventually between spoken words and written words. Talk to children when you are doing things in the house or when you are out and about. Play with them, read to them, and sing lots of songs. All of this helps to develop children’s early literacy skills.
Two key skills work hand-in-hand when children are learning to read: word reading and comprehension.
Word reading
The skill of word reading is begun by the practice of phonics. This is the understanding that the different sounds in language (called ‘phonemes’) are represented by letters or combinations of letters (called ‘graphemes’). Children are taught the sounds first, and then how to match them to letters. They are finally taught how to use the letter sounds for reading and spelling.
It is important for children to practice saying the sounds rather than the names of the letters.
Comprehension
Comprehension is the skill of understanding.
This may sound simple, but it doesn’t happen automatically. Many young readers concentrate so hard on working out what words they are reading that they don’t stop to think about what the words are telling them.
For this reason, comprehension needs to be developed actively. Children should be encouraged to think and talk about the meanings of words and stories, their personal opinions and how books relate to their own experiences.
You can help build your children’s comprehension skills by:
- asking questions about what has been read
- discussing how books’ pictures relate to the text
- talking about how characters might feel
- asking the questions and completing the activities