HOW CAN I IMPROVE MY CHILD'S READING?

Parents are more concerned about their child's progress in reading than in any other subject taught in school, and rightfully so.  In order for students to achieve in math, science, English, history, geography, and other subjects, reading skills must be developed to the point that most of them are automatic. Students cannot struggle with word recognition when they should be reading quickly for comprehension of a text.

Since reading is so important to success in school, parents can and should play a role in helping their children to become interested in reading and in encouraging their growth in reading skills.  The following suggestions have been beneficial to many parents:

• Provide a good role model-read yourself and read often to your child.
• Provide varied reading material-some for reading enjoyment and some with information about hobbies and interests.
• Encourage activities that require reading-for example, cooking (reading a recipe), constructing a kite (reading directions), or identifying an interesting bird's nest or a shell collected at the beach (using a reference book).
• Establish a reading time, even if it is only 10 minutes a day.
• Write notes to your school-age child; encourage written responses.
• Ask your child to bring a library book home to read to a younger sibling.
• Establish one evening a week for reading (instead of television viewing).
• Encourage your child in all reading efforts.

Excerpted from original article by Beverley B. Swanson