Reading Advice

Teaching your child to read comes with its own challenges, so here we have answered some of the most common questions that you may have about your child's literacy. Do send us your thoughts.


At what stage should I teach my son sounds and letters? When does he need to learn the alphabet? Should he learn it with capitals or small letters?

My five-year-old will “read” the book she brings home from school to me, but it’s obvious that she’s not reading the words, she’s just remembering them. I’m worried that if she thinks it’s OK to make up the words she’ll never learn that there is a right way to do it.

My son reads happily when he’s playing with his computer and he likes comics, but he doesn’t enjoy the books he has to bring home from school. What can I do?

How do you help a reluctant reader? I want to help give back the pleasure to my daughter who’s starting to find reading a task.

I’d like to know what’s going on when my son stops and thinks what the word is. How does he decide?

I’ve heard it helps children’s reading to teach them songs and rhymes. How does this work?

How can I help my child when she makes mistakes?


When my six-year-old picks up a new book to read to us, she really struggles. Why is this? I know she’s a good reader.

My four-year-old really doesn’t want to have a go at writing herself and asks me to write things down for her instead, although she enjoys copying my writing. Should I push her to write more for herself?

Our local school lets children spell everything in their own way. I cannot see how they will ever learn to spell correctly if this goes on.

Other children are doing better than my child. What can I do?

I feel I don’t know enough about how to read aloud to my two-year-old. I even feel a bit silly doing it.

Is it going to be confusing for my children, or hold them back, if they learn to read in their first language as well as in English?

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At what stage should I teach my son sounds and letters? When does he need to learn the alphabet? Should he learn it with capitals or small letters?
Children begin to take a real interest in the alphabet at around three years of age – especially in the letters that mean something to them such as those in their name. You can encourage them by putting up alphabets around the home: magnetic letters on the fridge are always popular but you could also have alphabet bricks, or just books and posters. Another idea is turn it into a game, hunting for letters that your child knows when you’re out shopping together, or collecting words that begin with the same letter to put on a poster or into a little book. It is important that your child recognises both capitals and small letters.


My five-year-old will “read” the book she brings home from school to me, but it’s obvious that she’s not reading the words, she’s just remembering them. I’m worried that if she thinks it’s OK to make up the words she’ll never learn that there is a right way to do it.
Remembering the words is one of the ways a child learns about stories and how it feels to be a reader. As their confidence grows, they will start to pay more attention to the words on the page, recognising familiar words and noticing similarities between words. You can help by asking them to look for the words or letters they know and drawing their attention to particular words they have seen elsewhere. Another good idea is to ask her to retell the story for you to write down: it will help her notice more about the way the words look and how they are formed.

If your daughter is still relying mainly on her memory of the story by the time she’s six or so, then she will need more help and more practice both writing and reading the words. You can help by making alphabets and teaching her ways in which to focus on the printed words, for example pointing to them as she reads or drawing her attention to the way in which they are repeated in the text.
 

My son reads happily when he’s playing with his computer and he likes comics, but he doesn’t enjoy the books he has to bring home from school. What can I do?
This is a common problem and it’s always a good idea to discuss your son’s progress with his teacher. Many children – particularly boys – enjoy certain kinds of reading much more than others. Boys typically like information books, or ones with lots of pictures and graphics, which are not always the kind available in schools’ reading programmes.

The best thing to do is look for books that share features with the kind of reading he likes such as picture books with cartoons or highly illustrated information books. It will begin to widen his range as a reader and hopefully ensure that he doesn’t lose sight of the all the fun to be found in books.


How do you help a reluctant reader? I want to help give back the pleasure to my daughter who’s starting to find reading a task.
Your daughter may not associate reading with pleasure; she may think of it as a chore, a task that requires her just to get the words right – no more, no less. It’s important to take the pressure off and show that reading can be fun. You can easily do this by sharing books with your daughter and reading to her, as well as getting her to read to you.

Don’t stop reading to her, whatever her age. Many parents stop reading to their children as soon as they can read for themselves but this is a mistake.. Take time to talk about the books together and go back to old favourites; you want it to be a shared pleasure, after all.

Another possibility is that your daughter is bored of her current books but may not know what else to read. Again, that’s something you can help her with by choosing some new and exciting ones.

I’d like to know what’s going on when my son stops and thinks what the word is. How does he decide?
When children are learning to read they are juggling many different kinds of knowledge to help them read the words on the page. They are using what they know about their spoken language, as well as their understanding of story and print.

When they meet a word they don’t know in a story, they will predict it by asking themselves: “What could it be?”; “What makes sense here?”; or “What sounds right?”. They will then use both the first letter of the word and the groups of letters they already know to help them check their guess. They can also get further clues from illustrations, as well as from patterns in the story, for example if the text rhymes.

I’ve heard it helps children’s reading to teach them songs and rhymes. How does this work?
Many reading experts argue that children can learn about language through songs and rhymes. The strong, repetitive patterns will make children more aware of the sounds of language. Rhyme helps to draw attention to the endings of words and to similarities between words. In fact, children who have plenty of experience of songs and nursery rhymes seem to find learning to read more straightforward as they are quick to focus on the links between letters and sounds, and they can see the patterns in the words they know.

How can I help my child when she makes mistakes?
It’s not easy to learn to read confidently and fluently. Children need to be able to make mistakes and to learn how to correct them themselves without losing faith in themselves. So when your child stumbles on words and phrases, give them some space. Try not to leap in with correction, however well meant. Only intervene with a little prompt to get them moving forward again if they seem to be totally lost.

When my six-year-old picks up a new book to read to us, she really struggles. Why is this? I know she’s a good reader.
We all find it hard to read unfamiliar texts out loud and to get an immediate sense of their particular rhythm and tone. You could help her a lot by reading some of it aloud yourself so that she becomes comfortable with the text. It could also be a good opportunity to talk about what interests her in the book and thereby raise her excitement and enthusiasm.

My four-year-old really doesn’t want to have a go at writing herself and asks me to write things down for her instead, although she enjoys copying my writing. Should I push her to write more for herself? 
There’s a distinction between learning the physical act of writing and knowing how to express yourself using the written word. At the moment, it sounds as if your daughter is trying to learn the former the same way that she has learned almost everything so far: through imitation. She is obviously interested in writing and wants very much to see how it’s done. This is an important step and you will be helping her greatly by involving her in the writing process. Let her watch you write down her requests and then share the results with her. There is no need to push her any harder at that age.

Our local school lets children spell everything in their own way. I cannot see how they will ever learn to spell correctly if this goes on.
We expect much more of children these days in almost every aspect of their lives and writing is no exception. Instead of just copying adults’ writing they are encouraged to write independently from the start. But they can only use the tools that they already possess and, as a result, will often spell words whose written form they are unfamiliar with as they sound (which often means incorrectly).

Working this way does have many benefits. It enables children to develop a strong sense of the relationships between letters and sounds, which helps their reading significantly. It also means that they can write much more than they would if they stopped to check the spelling of every word, and so they gain confidence in both their writing skills and their self-expression.

But it’s true that this approach to spelling cannot go on for ever. By the end of Year One at school, children should have been shown that they cannot rely on the sound of the words as a guide to their spelling. Ultimately good spelling requires close attention to the look of words and how they are constructed - and there are no short cuts to learning about this.  

Other children are doing better than my child. What can I do?
As with every other aspect of a child’s development, the age at which they begin to read or write can vary enormously. In general, the actual age at which they do so doesn’t matter, any more than it matters if one child walks at twelve or fifteen months of age. It’s not a race and it’s dangerous to act as if it is. Communicating your worry and anxiety about literacy to your child is likely to hamper their progress far more than any perceived “slowness” ever will.

This is not to say that you shouldn’t discuss the issue with your child’s teacher and take their advice on the subject. Perhaps all your son or daughter needs is a greater exposure to books at home and more reading time incorporated into their daily routine.  

I feel I don’t know enough about how to read aloud to my two-year-old. I even feel a bit silly doing it.
However silly you think you sound, your son or daughter will think that your voice is the most magical sound they know. You could not have a more willing or attentive audience. On a practical level, you’ll find that if you read the story to yourself first, you will hear its rhythms more clearly and this will make it easier to read aloud. Another idea is to listen to story tapes and CDs to hear how the professionals do it. After that, you just need to take a deep breath – and a sip or two of water – and dive right in. The more effort you make, the more you and your child will enjoy the experience!  

Is it going to be confusing for my children, or hold them back, if they learn to read in their first language as well as in English?
Learning to talk, read and write in more than one language is a great asset and it should be encouraged. There is lots of research to show that bilingual children have a better understanding of how language works. They tend to use language more flexibly, which often means that they are more successful at reading.