Tips for Teaching Reading - for ALL ages!

Teaching reading can be a daunting task - especially for parents with no teaching background! I remember when my children were young I really wished that I had the knowledge and the tools to teach them to read. So I wanted to provide some tips for teaching reading to the visual learner/struggling reader! These tips are appropriate for ALL ages of readers.

Tips When Teaching Reading:

• Understand your child’s preferred style of learning (visual, auditory or tactile).
• Focus on using the whole-word approach first for visual learners.
• Only after mastery of the whole single word should you then show how the word is broken down into letters and sounds.
• Begin introducing words to which your child can associate a visual representation (i.e. food they are familiar with, names of people they know, etc.)

Keys to Success:

• When using flashcards, flash them quickly! (Approximately one second per word is all that is needed).
• Ensure the flashcards are large enough and colourful enough to have a visual impact.
• Begin with a well-organized plan that will be included in a day-to-day routine.
• Do not test the child or ask them to repeat the words as you present them! This can cause anxiety and then your child may not want to participate anymore.
• Keep your program moving along – do not be too repetitive just because you think they are not processing the information quickly enough.
• Avoid presenting similar looking words together, as this can be confusing (i.e. Grandma, Grandpa).

Please feel free to contact me if you have any questions!