Those who enjoy reading—and who love books—may have no issue delving into a new story. When a child struggles to comprehend what they read, though, that love may feel fleeting. How can you love a story if you don’t completely understand it? Reading isn’t a ball and chain. Books are just another form of media to help entertain us and teach us something new. If kids are digging in their heels when the books fly off the shelf, think outside of the binding. Get creative and utilize the five senses to improve reading comprehension.

Become the Story: Touch & Tactile Play

For young children who struggle with reading comprehension, act out the story. Read together and then make puppets of the characters. Help your child reenact the story, and, as your play progresses, delve a little deeper into characters and plot. 

Incorporate all the wh questions for your play. Here’s what you’ll need:

Where: This is the setting.  Think about how to craft this. Maybe you can draw or grab some toys that offer a similar backdrop. If the story takes place in a castle, find a castle playset.

Who: You’ll need the story characters! An easy way to create DIY puppets is with paper and popsicle sticks. You could also use plush toys or dolls.

What: This is the action of your play. You and your child can act out the plot with the puppets.

When: Oh, narrator? Someone should set the scene. Is it around noon? Nighttime?

Why: As your play progresses, ask your child why a character might feel a certain way or take a specific action.

Get an Earful: Listen to the Story

Some children are visual learners, others are auditory learners. If your child has trouble with reading comprehension, listening to the book while reading may help them better understand the story. Your local library likely has many audiobooks that you can borrow for free. You could even request audiobooks if none are available.

Parents also can simply read the story to their children. While reading, talk about the story, and ask children the ‘wh’ questions to help gauge comprehension. Asking these questions while reading also will, hopefully, encourage children to get into the habit of thinking about the plot and the characters in a deeper way.

Sight: Watch the Movie after You Read

Hollywood loves a movie adaptation of a best-selling novel or book series. Many favorite young adult and children’s books have been reworked into screenplays for the big screen, and the feature presentation has transformed printed words into cinematic magic. The movie version of a favorite book allows the characters and action to come alive.

Since some movies do differ from the book, parents can ask children to spot these inconsistencies. Talk about what was similar and what was different. Did the child like the book or the movie better? Were the characters portrayed how the child pictured them? All these discussions can help a child appreciate the book, too. Need a few movie (and book) recommendations? Check out Youth Lit Review’s list of 50 movies adapted from kids’ books.

Taste & Smell: Cook Up Some Story Snacks

Embrace the fourth and fifth senses by giving your child a chance to sample some foods from a book or story. This may take a bit of culinary skill, but even if you’re not a whiz in the kitchen, the recipes can still be a lot of fun.

Ask your child while they are reading—or while you’re reading to them—about what the characters in the book like to eat. For younger kids, parents could cook Green Eggs & Ham (you just need some green food dye!). Older kids who are reading Harry Potter may want to mix up some butterbeer or hunt down some Bertie Botts Every Flavor Beans. Watch out for flavors like grass, dirt, soap and…booger, too! Some specialty candy stores even sell chocolate frogs!

Every story involves food of some sort. Ramona Quimby’s family ate pumpkin pie for dinner…and beef tongue. This is a great way to get your child immersed in the character’s world, and try some new foods, too! Not every food will be a hit, and that’s ok. Ramona wasn’t crazy about tongue anyway! 

While eating story snacks alone won’t boost comprehension, talking about food within the plot can be a conversation starter. Ramona’s family ate certain foods when money was tight, characters in Harry Potter ate magical candy, and, in other books, specific foods relate to a character’s cultural identity, too. 

More InSight’: Improve Comprehension by Reading Every Day

One of the best ways to help kids boost comprehension also uses the sense of sight. Reading every day and reading often helps kids embrace a reading habit. Don’t make this a boring chore, though. Try to incorporate some of the above activities to keep daily reading time a true adventure.

When kids need additional help with comprehension, parents also can utilize a reading app like Readability. The technology assists kids with pronunciation and also prompts them with questions to aid in comprehension techniques.

Readability’s virtual tutor provides positive reinforcement to encourage kids to keep reading, but the AI assistant also kindly corrects mistakes to ensure that kids develop better phonetic and phonemic awareness. Readability also features colorful illustrations for a visual sensory boost that keeps children engaged and interested.

Not sure if Readability is right for your child? Try it out for seven days for free!

Learning to read is a major milestone in every child’s life. But eventually, every child must shift from “learning to read” to “reading to learn.” Making this shift is incredibly difficult if your child does not have strong reading comprehension skills. Fortunately, it is possible for parents to help their kids develop the skills they need to blossom into better readers. Here’s how to improve reading comprehension at home.

What is Reading Comprehension?

Reading comprehension involves more than simply being able to read the written words on a page—it involves processing and understanding the meaning of the text. To comprehend text, children must be able to decode the words, understand what they mean, and determine the ideas that the author is attempting to convey by using these words.

A child with strong reading comprehension skills will be able to accurately answer questions about the text they are reading. For example, a child should be able to tell you about the characters, the main events, the conflict, and the resolution of a story. If they aren’t able to describe these key elements, they may not actually comprehend what they read.

Why is Reading Comprehension Important?

Developing strong reading comprehension skills is not easy, but it’s important. Why? These skills are crucial to:

• Reading textbooks and studying for other classes, such as history, science, and English
• Performing well on standardized tests
• Learning about current events by reading newspapers and magazines
• Communicating with others in writing
• Extracting important information from memos, reports, and other written documents

Your child will need to use these skills in order to interpret and understand text throughout their academic and professional career. That’s why it is so important to ensure they are not falling behind when it comes to reading comprehension.

How Can You Tell If Your Child Has A Reading Comprehension Problem?

Don’t wait for your child’s teacher to tell you that your child is struggling with reading comprehension. Instead, keep an eye out for these signs that your child has poor reading comprehension skills:

• Your child shows no interest in reading.
• Your child is unable to summarize a story they read.
• Your child can tell you about the main event of a story, but not what led up to the event or why it happened.
• Your child cannot relate what they are reading to events occurring in their own life.
• Your child does not understand a character’s thoughts, feelings, or motivations.

If you spot any of these signs, it’s possible that your child has poor reading comprehension skills.

How Can You Improve Your Child’s Reading Comprehension Skills?

Like any other skill, reading comprehension skills can improve as long as your child is willing to put in the effort. Follow these tips to improve your child’s reading comprehension skills at home:

• Ask them to read aloud. Kids tend to read slower when they read out loud, so this will give them more time to process each word.
• Ensure they are reading books on their grade level. It can be hard for children to comprehend text that is written above their grade level. 
• Ask them questions before, during, and after they finish reading. This will keep them engaged and actively thinking about what they are reading.
• Use flashcards to improve their vocabulary. Children cannot comprehend words that they don’t know, so broadening their vocabulary can improve their reading comprehension skills.
• Create graphic organizers to help your children understand the text. Use Venn diagrams, flow charts, and storyboards to illustrate the main events in a story.
• Give your child background information on the topic they are reading about. If your child is reading about a historical figure, for example, tell your child about the events that were taking place during that time in history. This background knowledge will help them better understand what they read. 
• Reread confusing sections together. If your child is struggling to comprehend a specific section, reread it together and help your child figure out the meaning of the text.
• Practice. The best way to improve any skill is to practice, so make sure your child reads on a regular basis to improve their reading comprehension skills.

These are some of the many ways that you can help your child strengthen their reading comprehension skills and become a better reader at home.

Improve Reading Comprehension Anytime, Anywhere

Kids of all ages and reading levels can improve their reading comprehension skills with the Readability app. Using this app is just like working one-on-one with a reading tutor. The app is designed to interact with your child by asking questions about the content they are reading, listening to their answers, and providing instant feedback. This ensures that your child remains engaged with the content at all times, which will help them drastically improve their reading comprehension skills.

Download the app on your smartphone or tablet device to start your free 7-day trial today.

Reading well and reading at an early age are both tied to greater educational success in children. As such, many parents want to get a jumpstart on teaching their children how to read. But, unless these parents are professional teachers, they’re often at a loss as to how to make that happen. Thankfully, though, you don’t have to be an educational expert to help a child build reading skills. You simply have to know and understand what the most important foundational reading skills are and then put them into practice.

Know What Sounds Each Letter Makes

Learning to read isn’t about learning words, at least not at first. At first, it’s about understanding the different sounds that each letter can make. Once children have a firm grasp on that, they can then start to string sounds together to form and understand words.

So, make that your starting point. Teach your child the sounds of each letter. Once they’ve learned the alphabet, you can start drilling them on the sounds of each letter. 

Once they understand the sounds each letter can make, show them different words that use these sounds differently. The K in “kite,” for example, sounds much different than the K in “kangaroo.”  Teach your children to identify patterns in the different phonetic sounds they encounter. Often, a letter’s “sound” or pronounciation changes based on what comes after and whether it’s a vowel or a consonant and on how that letter is used within the framework. 

The more practice your child has with understanding the sounds of letters and, eventually, words, and how they can change, the greater their understanding of reading will be.

Focus on Proper Spelling

Many parents make the mistake of not putting much emphasis on proper spelling. Their thinking is that if a child can read and pronounce a word correctly, that’s the most important thing.

And, while correct pronunciation is a good thing, it needs to go hand-in-hand with proper spelling. A child who can spell, not just say, a word correctly is a child with a deeper understanding of language and phonetics. 

This is not to say that you have to drill your child on tough spelling rules like “I before E except after C . . ,.” but you should take care to show them why certain words are spelled the way they are. Why, for example, isn’t “Colonel” pronounced the way it’s spelled? Well, it’s because it has French origins.

While your child might be a long way off from understanding word origins and how they affect pronunciation, you could still teach them that this is a “special case” word. Other “special case” words might change based on how the letters are strung together, the vowel structure, or various other factors.

When you teach and emphasize correct spelling, you engrain in your child those unique oddities of the English language that can help them to become more proficient readers and spellers. And, when children learn how to spell even tough words properly, they learn how spelling, language, and reading are all connected, giving them a deeper understanding of this skill.

Anytime your child makes a spelling mistake, take it as an opportunity to dissect the word, discuss why it’s spelled differently than they thought, and other circumstances in which the same rule may apply. It will make a world of difference.

Read Out Loud Often

In addition to enforcing and encouraging these skills, do not underestimate the vast importance of reading with your child. Allow your child to pick out age and reading level appropriate books that they want to read. While you might not love every story they choose, allowing a little choice is a wonderful way to make reading something that is fun and enjoyable, rather than something that feels like a chore.

With books on hand, set aside time to read together each day. Read aloud, stopping every so often to ask your child to repeat a new word or to talk about how it is spelled and/or how it sounds and why.

And, in addition to you reading out loud, ask your child to read a book to you each day. This is the perfect opportunity to see what specific things your child is doing well, where your child is struggling, and what you need to focus on to see improvement.

Keep at It

Now that you understand a bit more about the foundational reading skills, the main thing is to keep at it. Keep enforcing your lessons. Keep reading. Find and take every opportunity possible to talk about words and language. Work with your child, and encourage your child, and the payoff should be major for both of you.

Utilize Available Resources

If you’re finding all of these tasks a bit overwhelming, don’t panic! You don’t have to teach your child to read all on your own. Eventually, your little one will go off to school, if they haven’t already, and will have the support and help of teachers.

And, for even more support, there are great reading programs available. Readability Tutor is a prime example of just such a resource. With this great reading program, your child will learn and benefit from advanced speech recognition, artificial intelligence capabilities that provide real-time guidance as your child reads, and a carefully-selected library of engaging, interactive reading material.

To learn more about Readability and how it can benefit you and your child, contact us today or download our app. You won’t be disappointed!

Reading can be difficult to teach because it involves several different skills to be used at once.

However, the coronavirus outbreak has caused many schools to close leaving thousands of children without proper reading instruction. Many parents are now taking on the responsibility of teaching their children to read and helping them when they are struggling. Luckily, There are many ways to assist parents that are teaching their children to read at home. There are a wide variety of apps out there that help with various reading skills. Apps to improve reading speed and comprehension are valuable tools parents can use during school closures. Here are a few of our favorite apps to help you with improving your child’s reading speed and comprehension:

How can I improve my child’s reading speed?

Reading speed is basically how quickly your child can recognize words and sentences. The key to increasing reading speed is to increase your child’s phonemic awareness and vocabulary. Phonemic awareness allows your child to quickly associate letters with sounds and to be able to quickly put those sounds into words.

By increasing your child’s vocabulary, you are increasing their ability to recognize words and associate those words with meaning. Here are some apps to help increase phonemic awareness and build their vocabulary:

• Hooked on Phonics – This classic program has been a staple of reading instruction for years. Now, it is available as an app so your child can get phonemic help whenever they want. Hooked on phonics emphasizes learning the important relationship between sounds and word forms. Your child learns the different parts of speech as well as suffixes and prefixes that help them identify words.
• Sight Words – Sight words are the most commonly used words in a language. The Sight Words app helps your child build their sight word vocabulary in a fun and interactive way. The app is filled with word games that help improve vocabulary.
• Reading Trainer – Reading Trainer is a great app that targets improving reading speed. Reading Trainer provides fun games and eye exercises to help train your child to quickly recognize words. The app also keeps a record of your progress which is a great way for you to track your child’s improvements.

How can I improve my child’s reading comprehension?

Reading speed and comprehension go hand in hand. If your child is able to quickly recognize words and connect them to meaning, they are able to understand and comprehend what is being said in a text. Improving reading comprehension is key because it is the basis for reading success. Here are some apps to help improve your child’s reading comprehension:

• Bookopolis – In order to best help our kids, we need to use platforms they are already on and familiar with such as social media. Bookopolis marries social media with reading by creating an online community based on reading. Bookopolis allows users to share what they are reading and create book reviews to share with others. This can help your child share what they have learned from their books and discuss with others what they comprehend and think about the texts.
• Readability – Reading comprehension sometimes takes help and guidance. Readability is a great way for your child to have help and guidance whenever they need it. The app acts as a private tutor for your child by using speech-recognition technology to listen to your child reading out loud and gives them instant feedback to help them improve. Readability also has the option to have it read to your child so they can listen and follow along while they read the texts. This gives your child an extra model for reading when you are unavailable.
• Rewordify – For more advanced readers, sometimes the challenge comes from the advanced vocabulary. Rewordify identifies difficult vocabulary words in a text then simplifies it to make the passage more understandable. This can help your child understand texts easily and also helps build their vocabulary.

Improving reading speed and comprehension can help make sure your child is still staying on track even among the school closures during the coronavirus outbreak. Apps such as Readability can help parents with no teaching experience to still give their children the quality education they desperately need. With Readability, you can ensure that your child will return to school with better reading skills.