How can I help my son learn to read?

Helping your son learn to read is a partnership that will pay off for a lifetime. Although reading and writing abilities continue to develop throughout life, the early childhood years - from birth through age eight - are the most important period for literacy development. Many people wonder when a child learns to read. Most would answer kindergarten or first grade, but the truth is children start down the road to reading as soon as they are born.

The development of early literacy skills through early experiences with books and stories is critically linked to a child's success in learning to read. That's why children's books need to provide both the stories children enjoy and the structure they need to read fluently and independently.

You can prepare your son to read by sharing your time, talking about the world around you, telling and reading stories and asking and answering questions.

Here are suggestions for helping your son before, during, and after reading:

1. Make reading fun. Read to your son in a comfortable place. Have him sit on your lap or next to you so that he can see and point to the print and the pictures.
2. Show enthusiasm as you read with your child. Read the story with expression, almost as though you're acting the story out on a Broadway stage. You can make the story more interesting by talking as the characters would talk, making sound effects, and making expressions with your face and hands.
3. Read to your son often. Set aside special times for reading each day, maybe after lunch and at bedtime. The more you can read to him, the better—as long as he is willing to listen. Reading times can be brief, about 5 to 10 minutes.
4. Look at the cover together and ask your son to predict what the story is about.
5. Encourage your son to chime in with familiar words and phrases.
6. Echo read with your son by reading a line first and having him read it after you do.
7. Encourage your son to use phonics skills to sound out new words.
8. Provide the word for your son when more assistance is needed so that he does not struggle and the experience of reading with you is a positive one.
9. Encourage your son to read the books over and over again. Have him read to brothers, sisters, grandparents, and even stuffed animals. Repeated readings develop confidence in young readers.
10. Talk about the stories. Ask and answer questions. Share ideas about the funniest and most interesting characters and events in the stories.

Even six-week-old babies like the feeling of closeness when a parent, grandparent, or other caretaker reads to them. By incorporating these suggestions into your reading routine, children will find out that reading can be a warm, happy experience, and they'll begin to build a lifelong love of reading.

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Lori Calabrese is the award-winning children's author of The Bug That Plagued the Entire Third Grade. To learn more about Lori, and to sign up for the FREE Book Bugz Newsletter, please visit www.loricalabrese.com

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