Are You Growing with Your Child’s Reading Needs?
Stages of Reading Skills
Babies -language acquisition, joint attention, snuggle time
Toddlers/Preschool-concepts, social lessons, early reading skills
Early schooling-sight words, phonics, whole-language, basic
comprehension
Intermediate skills-main
idea, details, vocabulary building, intermediate comprehension skills,
extracting important information from readings
Advanced skills-literary
tools, implied meanings, abstract concepts, perspective taking skills, advanced
vocabulary, classical novels with cultural and historical contexts, language
and vocabulary, critical thinking skills, analysis and synthesis of multiple
literary works.
Levels of Parental Involvement
Children’s reading needs change over time and the demands on parents change with it. When a child is young, sharing a story is part of the snuggly bedtime routine. It is filled with the wonder
of first discoveries, charming picture books, and the smell of Johnson’s baby
shampoo in the air as you cuddle with your freshly bathed little one on your
lap. The degree of enjoyment is split pretty equally between
parent and child, and the time commitment is relatively low.
Parents move from this stage to the next reading stage fairly easily as picture books grow into phonics and sight reading. The excitement is shared as your child learns to read. The child reads more over time and become an independent reader. It is at this point that some parents feel as if they are done with reading interactions with their child.
However, reading needs are on a continuum and the developmental demands and benefits of reading change according to the child’s age and cognitive abilities. As reading challenges increase, many children start to struggle. Frustrations can heighten and coping skills can be tested to their breaking points for both the child and parent. However, dispelling some common reading myths and understanding how reading skills change over time may help to give children the support they need to be successful at any stage.
Parents move from this stage to the next reading stage fairly easily as picture books grow into phonics and sight reading. The excitement is shared as your child learns to read. The child reads more over time and become an independent reader. It is at this point that some parents feel as if they are done with reading interactions with their child.
However, reading needs are on a continuum and the developmental demands and benefits of reading change according to the child’s age and cognitive abilities. As reading challenges increase, many children start to struggle. Frustrations can heighten and coping skills can be tested to their breaking points for both the child and parent. However, dispelling some common reading myths and understanding how reading skills change over time may help to give children the support they need to be successful at any stage.
5 Common Reading Myths
1.
Once My Child Starts Reading
Independently, He No Longer Needs My Help- Reading skills change over time. Children may need a
different kind of reading support.
2.
Smart Kids Don’t Need Help- Even the brightest of children may
need support with acquiring new reading skills such as critical analysis or
Shakespearean dialogue.
3.
If My Child Needs Help, She Will Ask
For It-Many children
don’t take the initiative to ask for help when they need it. Check in and see
how things are going.
4.
My Child Is Pushing Me Away, He Doesn’t
Want My Help-Often when
a child uses anger or frustration to push a parent away; it is usually a sign
that he really needs the help.
5.
High School Students Shouldn’t Need
Help- Skills often
get more demanding and complex in high school. The bar is raised high in high school,
and many kids need assistance with diverse literary styles, advanced vocabulary
and critical thinking skills.
Although the road may be tough, the time invested by parents will
be invaluable to the cognitive and overall positive life trajectory of their
child. Parents are the spark from which the love of reading begins and lifelong
learning continues.
No comments:
Post a Comment