Reading comprehension is understanding and interpreting what you read, according to the Tennessee Department of Education. Watching a child struggle to understand what he is reading is hard for any parent. You may be at a loss as to what you can do for him at home; after all, you may not be a teacher. But with a few targeted strategies and a little time each day, you can improve your child's reading comprehension.
Step 1
Determine your child's reading level to ensure the book she is reading is right for her. Use the "five finger rule" or the "Goldilocks method," as suggested by the Tennessee Department of Education. Open the book to any page and have your child begin reading--if she misses five words on a page, the book is too hard; if she misses zero words, it is too easy; if she misses three words, the book is just right.
Step 2
Prompt your child to use context clues to determine if an unknown word makes sense in a sentence and then to "decode" it by sounding it out. Reading comprehension will improve when your child can understand words in their context, says Wendy C. Ward of the Carrollton-Farmers Branch Independent School District in Texas. Make flash cards of new words and help your child look up the words' meaning.
Step 3
Listen to your child read aloud at least 15 minutes each day. Encourage him to use what he already knows to comprehend what he's reading. Help him connect what he reads to his experiences, as well as to other books and his knowledge of the world around him, suggests the Wisconsin Educational Communications Board in its reading comprehension project, "Into the Book."
Step 4
Encourage your child to ask and answer questions about the information she just read. These can be the five Ws--who, what, where, when and why--or just a series of "why" questions that will help her understand a problem or situation in a story, according to the Tennessee Department of Education. Ask her to find the main idea of the passage and predict what might happen next in the story based on what she has just read.
Step 5
Ask your child to retell the story to you as if you had never heard it. Retelling facilitates comprehension because it requires your child to assimilate what he's read and reconstruct it, says Valerie J. Robnolt, associate professor at Virginia Commonwealth University. At the end of the retelling, ask him if he remembers any further details about the story.
Tips and Warnings
- In addition to having your child read to you, read aloud to your child often and from a variety of sources to help build her vocabulary. Ward, too, suggests asking your child content questions and having her retell the information to ensure understanding.
Things You'll Need
- A variety of appropriate-level reading material
References
- University of Tennessee--Knoxville: Helping Your Child at Home: Reading Strategies Parents Can Use
- Carrollton-Farmers Branch Independent School District: Tips for Helping Children With Reading...
- Wisconsin Educational Communications Board: Into the Book
- University of Virginia: Curry School of Education: Written and Oral Retellings
