Speaking and listening
Before children can learn to read, they need to be able to express themselves and to be able to listen. This familiarity with language helps children to predict what words might be used next. This is an important skill as, rather than read each word on a page, fluent readers quickly work out what the likely structure and meaning of a sentence will be and thus 'jump' words.
Visual discrimination
Reading is partly about being able to remember and decode symbols. We may not realise it, but many of the shapes of letters and words in English are quite similar. For children, this means building on their ability to observe and discriminate between shapes. Activities such as jigsaw puzzles, observing objects closely and sorting items help your child build their memory and visual discrimination skills.
Auditory discrimination
Along with visual discrimination, children have to develop their ability to hear differences in sounds. Activities involving musical instruments, singing and nursery rhymes will help your child learn to hear sounds and stresses in words. Later, your child will learn that particular sounds link to letter shapes.
Realising that written words have meaning
This is an essential skill the nursery or school will be working on. Your child may begin by reading whole words that have some meaning for them.
This is often their name, or individual words in a favourite book. Your child also needs to learn that words run from left to right in English, and from top to bottom.
At what age should I expect my child to be reading?
Encouraging children to read very early on is thought to have created problems for some children whose physical as well as pre-reading skills were not developed. With the advent of the Foundation Stage curriculum, for children in nurseries, pre-schools and reception classes, the importance of pre-reading skills is being stressed again, with children only beginning formal reading once they are at least five or six years old. The speed at which children learn to read does vary enormously, although most children have cracked it when they are around seven years old.
What can I do at home?
The attitudes that your child develops towards reading are as important as learning the skill itself. Children who have a love of books are more likely to persist at their reading when, for example, they do not know all the words. Research also shows that children who see their parents read books are more likely to pick up the reading habit.
Other things you can do to help are:
* Read your child a bedtime story each night
* Take your child to the library to borrow new and interesting books
* Pack a book in your bag for outings to the supermarket or in the car
* Run your finger under words as you read them - this helps children learn that print has meaning
* Point out signs and words that you often see, for example, the name of your street
* Sing nursery rhymes to your child - this helps them to hear sounds in words
* Make sure that your child sees you reading books or magazines for pleasure.
Finally, it is worth being aware of whether your child is seeing and hearing properly, as undetected sight and hearing loss is often a major cause of children not making a 'flying start' with their reading.
