Good reading skills are taught at school and can be reinforced at home. Here are some ways to help your child:
- Be sure your child knows how to use a book and how get what he needs from it. The table of contents, at the front of the book, shows how the information in the book is organized. It gives the overview of what the book covers. The index, at the back of the book, lists more detailed information in alphabetical order and directs you to page numbers. It can help your child decide quickly whether a book has information on a particular subject. The glossary, included at the back of some books, defines key words that may be unfamiliar.
- Before your child begins, encourage her to scan what she’s going to read. She should look at the chapter titles and headings, graphs, illustrations, and any summaries or reading aids such as boldface or italic type. Some textbooks have questions at the end of each chapter. Reading these before reading the text can help your child watch for key information as she reads the text. If she sees the “big picture” of what the chapter is about, she’ll be better able to understand and remember the details.
- Encourage your child to ask himself questions about what he’s reading, such as: What do I already know about this subject? How does the information fit into the message of the chapter as a whole? What is the author getting at? What are the most important points or concepts in the reading?
- As your child reads, have her take notes with page numbers from the text she’s reading. This will help her pay attention, and she can use her notes as a memory aid if she needs to go back to or remember the information later. She can highlight or note key words and look up any unfamiliar word in the glossary if the book has one.
- Make sure your child reviews what he has read. He should go over the main ideas and important details. And encourage him to write out answers to any study questions.
