I have written about reading sometime back but have decided to write again as I believe this is very important for all parents and especially parents with dyslexic children.
A parent's primary responsibility in preparing a child to
be a good reader is to read to the child every day, beginning early in life and
continuing into his teens. I believe, my siblings and I are avid readers
because my mother used to read to us every day from the time we were about 4
years old. It comes to me as no surprise that my 5 children are also avid
readers because either my wife or I will read to them every day before they go
to bed.
Reading aloud to your child helps develop his vocabulary
as well as comprehension, both of which are essential for him to read. Reading
to your child also allows him to enjoy books above his reading level. This may
sound simple but believe me when I say a child will learn to love to read if
you read to him every day. Never underestimate a child's listening ability. My
first dyslexic student John will sit for the whole hour and listen to me with full
attention when I read his favourite books – Binnacles. I was surprised at how
he could remember the various names of all the characters in the book.
You may be thinking how is it that your child will learn
to read if you're the one doing all the reading? From personal experience I
know that if a child grows up in a family that reads to him and love reading
themselves he will learn to read and enjoy reading. Children imitate what they
see and hear and parents can set good examples by being good readers. Reading
to a child lays the foundation for the child to love to read.
Some parents mistakenly believe that once their children
can read, they don't have to read to them anymore. My wife read to our children
even when they were in form 5. They just loved to be read to while they were
going to sleep.
When you feel your child is ready to read, start off by
getting him to read very simple books. You could tell him that he will soon be
able to read the type of books you have been reading to him. Teach him phonics
as introduced in my lessons in this blog. At the same time teach him the Dolch
words as introduced in my lessons. Some words, particularly the Dolch words,
have to be memorized as they do not make phonetic sense or visual sense. It is
almost impossible to make visual sense of words like was, when, who and what.
As I have mentioned earlier, you do not have to make a
choice between sight words/ whole language and phonics. I have used both
phonics and sight words in my lessons. Teach your dyslexic child as instructed
in my notes.
Once your child has learnt to read he will be a sight word reader just like you and me. He will use phonics and context to work
out new or unfamiliar words.
One way
of enticing your child to read is to ask him to read to you while you are doing
chores. You could ask him to read while you are cutting vegetables, washing
dishes or cooking. Be attentive to him while he is reading and stop at
convenient places and ask him what he thinks will happen next. You too could give
your opinion as to what you believe is going to happen. This will create a lot
of interest in your child to want to continue reading and to also read the next
time you are doing chores.
A reader has written to me asking me as to why I have stopped at 10 times table and not done 11 and 12 times table. I will do this in my next article.
2 comments:
Heer heer. An excelent comment. I don't read to my daughter enough. I will read to her again today.
Nice to see you back here Bit. Thank you for your comment.
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