Reading Habits: Tips for Improving Literacy at Home
In the years since the pandemic, one of the chief areas in which children have fallen behind is reading. This was the driver behind creating the reading comprehension program at MRM Education, which included the hiring of a handful of reading specialists with diverse backgrounds and specializations to support children suffering from reading loss and difficulties across the learning spectrum. But in addition to support from a reading specialist, we’ve compiled a list of ways to support your child’s reading ability from right at home whether your child is an older, struggling reader or an early learner still developing the most fundamental skills.
Create an environment that encourages reading. In order to encourage reading, there has to be things to read! Stock your home with age-appropriate books. Leave reading material around for your child to look at any chance they get. Engage your child’s interests in the reading material. It doesn’t matter what they’re reading only that they’re reading. For infants, engage children on a tactile and visual level by finding books with vivid images and textured pages. Reading to your child regularly, even when they don’t have the skills to grasp language yet, has been shown to increase language development and speed up the ability to recognize and formulate words.
Make habits of reading. Find a way to make story time a habit, whether thats before bed or replacing after-school television time with a short story time. Children thrive on routine. Creating a space where children associate reading with comfort and safety will foster a life-long love reading in them. Further, habits we form as children are increasingly likely to carry over into adulthood, increasing the odds of your child continuing to read as they age.
Praise your child. This is true of all children but especially true of older children who have struggled with reading. We all hate to do the things we aren’t good at. The more your child believes they are not good at reading, the less they will read and the more the more they will struggle. You can break this feedback loop by praising your child as they improve. Children love hearing that their parents are proud of them and even if their level is not where you hoped it would be, simply hearing your praise could be what makes the difference between them picking up a book or shunning reading for the long term.
Be a reader. Children model the behavior of their parents. Infants imitate their parents even when they don’t understand the behavior. This might look like your child picking up a book just to stare it. Eventually though, they’ll begin to understand the words on the page, and if you’ve followed the advice from step one, they’ll find a book with words they do understand!
Though your child’s progress through school and socialization may stress you out, integrating literacy into your home at a young age can be one of the most enjoyable ways for you to support your child. Beyond exercising their actual reading skills, it can create quality time to spend with them, engage their interests and broaden their world. With just a few minor tweaks to your home life, you can support your child’s reading progress no matter what stage they’re at.
