Tips for Reading Comprehension

Developing reading comprehension skills is incredibly important to your child’s future. Starting as early as picture books and growing into early readers, age and grade-appropriate reading comprehension sets your little reader up to understand textbooks, newspapers, and other more complex literary works as they grow and set out into the world. 

1. I know I say this a lot, but I cannot stress enough the benefits of ‘reading aloud’ enough!  Reading out loud encourages your child to go slower. It gives them time to process what they’ve just read. In turn the extra time to ‘absorb the information’ improves their comprehension. Think about it; they are now involving mulitple ’senses,’ i.e.: seeing the words – and hearing the words – thus better comprehension is achieved. It also give them a chance to ask questions if they don’t understand what the writer is trying to convey. If your young one is hesitant, take turns reading aloud to one another. 

1. Re-reading books builds fluency.  To gain meaning from text and develop strong reading comprehension, your child needs to read quickly and smoothly — a skill known as fluency.  By the beginning of 3rd grade your child should be able to read 90 words a minute. Re-reading familiar, simple books gives your child practice at decoding words quickly, so they’ll become more fluent in their reading comprehension. As a Nanny, I find that reading with expression, with characters and voices in mind – children develop favorite books they want to have read over and over again. My little Vivian at 2.5 years old memorizes stories line for line and even corrects me if I get lazy and adlib lines. She has developed a deep appreciation for books and the world they can open up for her imaginative comprehension! 

1. Provide Books at the Right Level. When you are making book choices either at the library or for purchase, make sure your school-aged reader gets a lot of practice reading books that aren’t too hard for them. Children should recognize at least 90% of the words without any help. Stopping any more often than that to figure out a word makes it tough for kids to focus on the overall meaning of the story. They become lost in the task rather than the storyline, at which point they will become frustrated and quickly loose their enthusiasm. 

4. Talk About What They’re Reading. “Verbal processing” helps a child’s recall and helps them methodicall think through the themes of the book. Ask your child questions before, during, and after a session. This will encourage them to read with comprehension as their primary focus.

For example:  

• Before: What made you pick this book? What interests you about it?  

• During:  What’s going on in the book?  Is it turning out the way you thought it would?  What do you think will happen next?”  

• After: How would the story be different if it was told from another character’s point of view?  What did you like about it?  What did the bookremind you of?” 

“When you ask questions during story time, it really helps children learn to be active readers and to think critically,” says Tammy Milby, Ph.D., director of reading in the Department of Education at the University of Richmond. “When parents can get kids thinking and discussing a text, it makes story time a richer experience.”