Help on Reading Comprehension

How to Help a Child Improve Reading Comprehension

Reading and reading comprehension is, without doubt, one of the most important skills that a child learns in school. Consequently, it becomes the duty of the parent to spend time with a child after school, going over comprehension homework and offering help on reading comprehension. To strengthen the comprehension skills of children, there are several things that you can do as a teacher or a parent.

While working on a certain comprehension piece, it helps if there are pictures to support the text that is being read. Encourage the child to look through the pictures and associate the story with the images.

Older children work on comprehension better if they are told the outline of the matter at first. While being taught, children find it easier to follow a predetermined outline rather than understand the subject matter as they read. Giving them an outline also helps them in focusing on the main features of a comprehension lesson.

Following a few tried and tested techniques can offer help on reading comprehension for your child. Sit with the kid during reading and figure out if the words actually make sense to the child. In case you find that the little one is simply reading them without understanding anything, try to set matters right by helping your child understand the words.

Repeat words and sounds during teaching. Use certain words or sound effects throughout an entire story so that your child can recall words better. Use this method frequently so that the child grasps the subject matter of the passage quickly and learns new words as well.

Let the student chose his/her own books. The reason children’s minds wander is because they often get bored with some of the reading material adults give them. Choosing their own book ensures that their interest is maintained and an extra effort in put forth by the child to understand what they are reading.

Reading habits in a child should be encouraged as much as possible. Comprehension is often an acquired skill, so the more reading the child does, the easier it is for him/her to understand the reading material.

Develop the habit of reading out loud. Read out the passage and point out the words with your finger. In this way, the child gets to hear and see the word at the same time and can understand it better and faster as well.

Making flash cards of words or phrases that a student habitually gets wrong is helpful in correcting a mistake. Review these words constantly so that he/she recognizes them immediately on seeing them in a book.

It is better to avoid timed comprehension passages in the initial stages. Timing the work puts unnecessary pressure on the child’s mind. The focus during the initial stages should be on understanding the work allotted to the child rather than on finishing the work within a stipulated time frame.

Reading and comprehension skills get better with time. Let the students first gain proficiency in reading and understanding; you can then give them timed tasks. Offer every kind of help on reading comprehension skills to the children so that they develop this habit quickly. Comprehension gets more important as they grow older. Therefore, it pays to develop these skills in a child as quickly as possible.

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