How to Help a Child Learn to Read

Learning to read is one of the most important skills your child can learn. Whether you are a homeschool parent teaching your child to read or a parent that is helping a school child after school hours, helping your child to learn to read can be scary. Some children catch right on to reading and have no problems from day one. They may even teach themselves to read at a very young age, but most children do not fall into this category. The important thing to remember is even bright children can have some troubles and how quickly a child learns to read is not an indication as to how smart the child is, some children just find this skill easier than other children. Here are some tips and steps you can take as a parent to help your child learn to read.

Difficulty: Moderate

Instructions

Things You'll Need:

• Books, lots and lots of books!

1. 
    

   Read to your child and read around your child from an early age. Allow your child to explore books with fascinating pictures. Make it seem like a really fun activity to do so they will have the desire to do it.

2. 
    

   Teach your child phonics sounds. Start young (around age 2-3) with the ABCs and what sounds they make. Don't not expect them to catch on right away, but if you expose them often to the sounds, they will probably start picking them up. If you did not start when your child was this young, do not fear they will still probably learn to read ok. Just start as soon as you can.

3. 
    

   As they get a little older (ages 4-5), start pointing to the each letter in a simple word and say the sounds, each sound in turn. Show them how when you sound out each sound and then put them together it makes a word. Point out patterns in words such as words that end with -at always sound the same.

4. 
    

   Start pointing out simple, common every day words to your child when they get about 4 or 5 years old. These words include words such as "the", "is", "it", "or" and other such words. These words are sight words. They are used so often, that it is best if your child just learns them on sight. You can get lists of sight words if you use a search engine and search the words "Dolch Sight Words" or see the resources below.

5. 
    

   If your child needs extra help, there are tons of worksheets on the internet. I have a link in the resources down below where you can find a lot of worksheets and tips on teaching your child to read. You can also check out the related articles on the sides of this article for more help.

Tips & Warnings

• If your child does not start learning to read at least simple material or is not progressing by about 2nd grade, then you may want to talk to a professional about their reading.
• Keep in mind children learn at different rates. Do not panic if your child is not exactly "where they are suppose to be".
• Younger children many times have trouble with letters such as "b" and "d" and getting them backwards. This is a normal problem.

Resources

• Beginning Reading Page

[Arathi]

on 6/22/2009 Thanks for the awesome tips!

[FranticMommy]

on 5/17/2009 This makes me feel a TON better. Our kindergartener is one that is slow to catch on. These ideas will be super helpful and I am encourage to keep trying! Great article!