Reading and Success in Reading

Mary G. Warren
Here’s an easy way for you to make a big difference in how quickly your child learns to read, and in the long term, how well they understand what they read.  How?–point out words, capital letters, how we read from the top of the page to the bottom, and from the left side of the page to the right side.  Easy, right?!  Give your kids these little cues to make them better readers, and learners!
Start when your child is one to two years old.  You have already been holding your child on your lap to read to him, right?  You have propped a book open in front of your 1 week old infant and read to her.  You can start pointing out words as you read them, and turn the pages from left to right even at 1 week.  You don’t have to make it a big deal.  Babies just want to eat the book anyway.  But as you establish your reading practice with your toddler, begin to point out “print references”—specific words as you read them, capital letters as you sound them out, how the words make sense reading left to right and top to bottom.  These cues tell your baby that the words on the page mean something, and they can learn to figure it out.
Children who have been read to using these print reference cues have better vocabularies, are better spellers, and comprehend what they read when they get to school.  All of us want that for our children!  You can do it for your child.
Mary G. Warren, PhD.
Best for Babies Dependency Court Children’s Mental Health Coordinator
Prevent Child Abuse Arizona
www.pcaaz.org 
maryw@pcaaz.org
928-925-2013