Preparation for Reading

One day your child will learn to read, and there's a lot that you can do to prepare them and make learning to read an easier task.  Before children can read there are some fundamental principles that they must understand.  They must be able to differentiate letters, words and numbers from pictures, they should be familiar with books and know that pages read from top left to bottom right and they should be able to identify each letter and know the sound that each one makes.  Even with all this there is still a lot more to learn before they can read, but at least they are in good shape to learn more easily.

Teach your child letters from an early age, sing the ABC song so that they learn their alphabet, and have them recognise their name.  Spot letters when you are out and about and play phonic games to help grow familiarity with the sounds of letters.  Write labels for things around your home and put signs up for your child to be able to spot different words.  Part of reading is about being able to read letters and make out a word, but many words have irregular letters and sounds and are more easily learned through recognition by exposure to them over time.

There's no doubt that reading encompasses a lot of different skills and knowledge, but being surrounded by letters and sounds, your child really will absorb the knowledge required to learn to read, and you'll find that they will learn to read more quickly than other children who weren't given this encouragement.