Reading readiness is often referred as the earliest stage of informal reading that involve young children. Learning to read is an on-going developmental process.

Language, listening and writing skills contribute to the development of reading readiness. Learning to read will be difficult if these skills are not present.

To be able to read is important for success in school and throughout life. Reading readiness begins early in children's development, well before they enter kindergarten.

Although we all want our children to read early, the reading readiness skills must  be well established first. Reading  does not happen naturally without adult guidance.

Children must first have knowledge of the oral language and its vocabulary. Talking and interacting with  your children, help improve their language skills.

Letters of the alphabet are the building blocks of literacy. The more familiar these letters and their associated sounds, the easier will be for your  children to learn to read.

Children need to recognize that letters put together make sounds, and sounds put together make words. (phonemic awareness) The best thing to prepare children with reading readiness is to read aloud to them.

Reading materials need not be limited to story books. Parents can use magazines, newspapers, any other reading materials. It's important to consider children's developmental level when choosing pre-reading materials.

While reading out, point to  the words that will help your children identify them. Regular experiences with a rich variety of books and reading materials, allow your children to gain an understanding of how print works.

Pre-reading  activities with your children

Read nursery rhymes to your children, play rhyming games and singing songs are important ways to stimulate reading readiness. 

Introduce new words whenever you can and play word games together

While reading a story, stop once in awhile to ask questions, about the characters in the story. Encourage your children to tell the story in their own words. 

Children may use pictures clue to guide them.  Praise children for their attempts, refrain from making any corrections.  

Give them lots of encouragement at this stage. Children will be encouraged to move foward in their abilities to read.   

Our  goal is to strengthen children's understanding of the story elements.

Children's desire to feel successful about reading will be motivated to choose the same book and reread stories multiple times.

Make reading readiness a part of as many activities as possible - reading signs, letters, posters, banners keep the activity fun and inculcating the reading habit.

Cooking  activities reinforce learning as well. Most children think it's fun!  Reading out the recipes stimulate their interest to want to learn to read.

Making Play-Doh or cookie dough by rolling out rope-shaped pieces. So children can form into shapes of letters,  say the letter and its sound.

Printing your children's name on a piece of paper. Put a piece of tracing paper over it and show them how to trace their name,  it's another interesting reading activities

Encourage all efforts to read, go to the library together and let your children pick out  the  books they are interested in.

Three Basic Learning Styles:  

Visual, Auditory, Kinesthetic Learners

Every child learns a little differently, it is important that parents have a good understanding of the different learning styles.

Have you noticed that what works for one child, does not necessarily work for another?

Understanding the learning style of your child can provide a key to success and a way to avoid frustration.

Auditory Learners

* Auditory learners remember by talking out loud,

   like to have things explained to them. 

* Auditory learners love repetition and rhyme.

* They will probably memorized many song lyrics

   and nursery rhymes.

* They can recite books you've read to them.

Visual Learners

* Visual learners easily remember visual details and

   prefer to see what they are learning.

* Visual learners tend to love drawing, painting, bright colors

   and beautiful picture books.

* They match and compare the letter shapes in the 

   alphabet books.

* Visual learners have strong visual skills, they can benefit

   from auditory and tactile stimulation.

Tactile-Kinesthetic Learners

* Kinesthetic or tactile learners prefer activities that

   allow them to do what they are learning about.

* Tactile learners like to touch things in order to learn about

   them and like to move around when talking or listening. 

* The tactile-kinesthetic learners remember best the

   things they experience. 

* Kinesthetic learning involves the use of the whole body

   rather than just hands-on.

* Studying with soft music in the background might

   suit the kinestic learners.

To Your Parenting Success

Helen Law

Contact: 603-41054382 N0. 11 Jalan H1, Taman Melawati,   53100 Kuala Lumpur