When it comes to teaching children to read, there are a few key considerations. Not all children learn the same way. Every child learns differently or responds better to a certain style of teaching.
In order to better understand the process of teaching children to read, here are the five facts that you should consider.
- One method is not enough. Many parents will choose to focus on sight learning, phonics, or other reading tactics one at a time. However, this isn’t effective because the methods of reading need to be combined to have the most successful effect on the process.
- Use sight learning to teach basic phonics, then use phonics to teach reading at later stages, and involve other methods of reading comprehension, as well.
- Computer software is becoming a common household item. Children still sit down and read hard copies of books, but when it comes to learning to read, it isn’t the most effective way. Using interactive computer software has shown to offer better results than using books or flashcards alone when teaching children to read. If children are having fun, they will love learning. It’s that simple. Make it fun and they will succeed.
- Parents always know best, but they should be open to new ideas. The methods that you used to learn reading decades ago might not be the most effective anymore. There are better, faster ways for teaching children to read in today’s society and you should take advantage of them.
- Every child is different. Some children learn reading very easily while others will struggle. Each child has different methods that work for them, and they might not work for everyone. If your oldest child had great success with a phonics program, don’t be discouraged when it doesn’t work for your younger child. They might need a different technique to help them learn.
Teaching children to read is all about persistence, and they cannot succeed without the fundamentals in place. Make sure that you develop a strong foundation for your child in their early life so that they can use those skills again and again to learn bigger, more difficult words and read more complex stories as they grow older. If you start with the right foundation in teaching children to read, the skills will grow easily over time.
