In 15 years of working in primary education, my single biggest struggle has been pressure from parents about their child’s reading. For some reason, reading is often used by parents, particularly of young children, as a measure of their child’s abilities. It is not! Some extremely able children find it difficult to learn to read. Others who are early fluent readers can struggle in many other learning areas. Reading is, however, a skill we all need to survive in the modern world. So how we teach it is of major importance.

Chall’s Six Stages of Reading Development (1983) identifies for us the importance of the pre-reading stage: birth to age 6. During this stage, children begin to develop some knowledge of print, identifying letter sounds and acquiring initial sight vocabulary. At this stage it is common to see children ‘pretend’ to read a book that has been read to them. Good schools will expose children gently to the world of print, encouraging them to apply what they know and stimulating them to learn more. Some children will be ‘ready to read’ earlier just as some are quicker to walk or to talk. It is very important at this stage not to pressure a child who is not yet ‘ready to read.’ I have a really good friend. She’s intelligent, a great parent and exposes her child to all sorts of wonderful learning experiences. But now that her eldest child is 4, she has started worrying about her reading. “The school sent her home the other day with a book with no words in it!” What would be the reason for that?

It’s a great development of pre-reading and pre-writing skills, the child can ‘read’ the book by telling the story to his or her parents. These books are used while teachers develop phonic awareness, initial sight vocabulary, decoding and word attack skills. Then they will begin to give children books with simple words.

Decoding and sight vocabulary expansion continues through Stage 2 (ages 6 to 8). Here teachers expand vocabulary, develop word building skills and use context to build comprehension as well as fluency.

Fluent reading is a major goal of reading instruction because decoding print accurately and effortlessly enables students to read for meaning. Most children do not become fluent readers until age 8 or 9: stage 3 of Reading Development. Fluency is defined by an ability to recognize many words by sight, to sound out words that they don’t know and to apply context cues to work out new vocabulary.

In stage 4, ages 8 through 9, children begin to use reading more as a way to obtain information and learn about the values, attitudes and insights of others. Texts will contain many unfamiliar words, therefore it is very important that early reading skills have been strongly developed.

Why won’t my child read?

The two most common reasons for disinterest in reading are:

Frustration: If a reader frequently encounters text at his or her frustration level, they are more likely to give up because they make so many errors. Just try reading this excerpt to get an idea of how it feels - apologies if you happen to be a quantum physicist!

‘In our universe there is the Higgs field, which unifies with the field of the weak power. With high energy it is possible to destroy the Higgs field and the exchange particles of the weak power are then free; they behave like photons and do not differ from them.’ *

Missing the ‘why’ of reading: Good readers tend to view reading as making meaning from text, whereas poor readers tend to view reading as trying to read words accurately.

How can we overcome this?

• Use differentiated grouping: This is where children are reading at different levels in the same class. Differentiation ensures that all readers are extended at their independence levels and no one experiences frustration.
• Promote the reasons for reading: Children will learn to read more quickly if they understand the reasons for reading. Enjoyment and enthusiasm play a big part in this. Adult modeling is also very important

So what can I do for my child?

• Practice reading at home: All research shows that children who practice reading at home are more likely to become fluent readers than those who only read at school. Ask questions about the book. Encourage your child to point and engage him or herself in the reading.
• Model the reasons for reading: Discuss print in the environment and encourage your child to look for road signs and advertisements. Even with beginning readers you can ask them ‘can you see any words beginning with b?’ etc. Share your own reading with your child, discuss a news paper article, indicate your enjoyment of a good book, etc.
• Encourage your child to interact with books: It really doesn’t matter if they have picked up a great tome on aeroplanes which is way too hard for them, just don’t encourage them to read every word.
• Interact with your child’s teacher: Good teachers have sound reasons for the decisions they make about a child’s reading needs and will be very happy to share these with you.

The most important thing to remember in all of this is that we are all different. Children learn at different rates and should not be compared to each other - even within the same family! Putting pressure on a child who is not ready to read will usually end up turning them off reading.

Teacher Jargon Explained:
Phonics: the sounds which make up words
Sight vocabulary: words that are instantly recognised when seen
Decoding: using phonic knowledge to work out new vocabulary
Context cues: using known vocabulary and pictures to work out new vocabulary and meaning
Differentiation: children working at different levels or in different ways

More information on reading can be found at www.readingonline.org

* www.hpwt.de/Kerne.htm