Reading with your Child
Language And Early Literacy Tips From A Speech Therapist
By Anne Chapman MA CCC-SLP
Did you know that March 2nd is Read Across America Day? Started by the National Education Association (NEA) in 1998, this day encourages children across the country to develop a love for books and, of course, to read! Fun Fact: they picked this date because it is also Dr.Seuss's birthday! You might notice that a lot of schools/libraries extend this date to a full Dr.Seuss /reading week!
At PI we are extending this reading celebration to the whole month of March! As speech-language pathologists, we use books in our sessions for all ages! There are tons of strategies that we use and recommend to families, but here's a list of some of our favorites:
Be sure and scroll down to see more videos of PI therapists reading their favorite books!
Introducing the book:
Leading your fingers across the text from left to right to as an early literacy strategy to encourage your kiddo to visually track books in that direction
Pointing out the title, author, and illustrator & explaining who those people are. Sometimes we blow right through that information, but it is a great opportunity to teach people about jobs and give our authors/illustrators credit! ( You could say something like: “Good Night Moon” by Margaret Wise Brown. She's the author. An author is the person who writes the book. And the illustrator is Clement Hurd—he's the person who drew the pictures!)
Hand the book to your child upside down—see if flip it the correct orientation!
While reading the book: Talk about what is on the page/summarize instead of reading every single word if your kiddo has difficulty paying attention to the book.
Skip reading the text
… and just talk about the pictures—you can talk about animals, colors, actions, objects, etc.
Expectant pausing (e.g., oooh what is that? We found a *wait & see if they fill it in* .
Encourage your kiddo to be the page turner.
Sometimes when I'm reading a board book, I'll firmly place my thumb on the right side of the pages except for the next page in the story to encourage turning one page at a time.
Ask the child to problem solve!
Ask them what they think will happen next before you turn the page. Or maybe show them the cover of the book and ask what they think it might be about. Expectant pausing (e.g., oooh what is that?)
Use silly voices and make silly sounds to make the story more interesting
Use lots of repetition of the sounds and words in the book. “Where's the sheep? There's the sheep! Sheep! Sheep! Baa baa! What does that sheep say? Baa!” If there are multiple images of the same thing label each one to give extra models of the vocabulary word (e.g., bee!, bee!, bee!, bee! While pointing to each bee).
Talk about what the characters are doing
Talk about actions the characters in the books are performing to target verb vocabulary (e.g., “Oh look! The baby is sleeping. Sleeping. *snoring noise* Good Night baby! Sleeping!)
Interact with the book in a way that isn't reading. Knock on the doors, kiss the baby, pat the kitty, wipe dirty cars, pretend to eat yummy looking food
Kids love books where kids get in trouble---use statements like “Oh no! Lot at that! What happened?” to encourage kids to begin to describe what's happening on the page and problem solve what the characters should/might do next
Sing the words in the book or pair a song already created with a book (E.g.,Raffi and Greg & Steve as artists, “Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What do you see?” has a great song that we like to use for our early learning group!
Asking wh- questions.
Extra tips for promoting language and development
Read the same stories all the time to build familiarity. See if they can retell the story to you! Even if they aren't reading.
Rhyming books
Use rhyming books to develop phonological awareness (ability to hear and understand the speech sounds and sound combinations). Have your child fill in the last word and talk about all the rhyming words. A great book for rhyming would be Dr.Seuss's “Green Eggs and Ham” (“ Not in a box. Not with a ______ (fox). Not in a house. Not with a______(mouse)
Interactive books flaps, pullies, textured books, and Poke-A-Dot books are a great way to encourage engagement, especially for our kiddos who have a short attention span-- interactive books might help them stay for juuuust a bit longer than usual.
Does your child have an Augmentative & Alternative Communication system (AAC)? Use can use all of these strategies while using their device, pictures, switches, etc.! Check our GROUPS to see upcoming AAC User Groups/Outings.
Still not sure if your child is at the right reading/language level…..Schedule a FREE Developmental Screening.
Check out our YouTube Channel for videos of therapists at Pediatric Interactions as we share strategies with families on how they can read with their child. Enjoy listening to the book and then hear the tips to practice at home!