How to Develop Reading Skills in Kids

Nothing is more important for kids than good reading skills. Children needs good reading skills for enhancing their knowledge and enriching their lives. Here are few ways by which a parent can help develop reading skills in kids.

How to Develop Reading Skills in Kids

Kids can spend endless time watching televisions and playing video games, but when it comes to reading, well they don't have time. I know few kids who make excuses when it comes to reading. Few of those excuses could be:

- Oh I forgot to complete my homework, can I read later?

- Oops, I just remembered some project that I have to finish for school!

- Didn't you tell me that I should go early to bed?

- When I read I feel sleepy!

- Why don't you read it for me?

Well these are just few of the excuses that kids can give when it comes to reading, but there are endless excuses which parents get to hear from kids when they ask them to read books. Reading skill is a complete different concept from just reading question and answers. To develop reading skills, first of all parents need to create an interest in kids for reading and that's not going to happen very easily. Parents would need to out some special efforts to develop the reading skills in kids.

Factors that fail to develop reading skills in kids

There are many factors that come in a way of the development of reading skills. Few of these are mentioned below:

- Lack of Interest

- Lack of ability to focus

- Lack of Concentration

- Excessive TV Watching

- Endless hours of Video and Computer games

- Lack of active involvement by parents

- Lack of ability to understand

- Delay in Speaking during Younger age

The above mentioned factors are lot more responsible and fail to develop reading skills in kids.

Importance of developing reading skills in kids

To develop reading skills in kids, first we need to know why is it so important to develop reading skills in children. Reading skills play a very important role in a kid's life right from his young age. Why would otherwise it be important to read books and other articles. Here are few importance of developing reading skills in kids:

1. Reading skills helps in the development of the language skill in children.

2. Reading skills improve academic performance.

3. Reading skills also help in enhancing their knowledge and enriches their lives.

4. Reading skills help develop kid's other social skills.

5. Reading skills improve hand-eye co-ordination in kids.

6. Reading skills help improve confidence and self-esteem in kids.

7. Reading skills opens new world of knowledge and information for kids.

8. Reading skills can be a fun filled activity and offer lot of enjoyment.

Now you know why parents should help develop reading skills in kids, let's learn about few ways in which one would be able to develop reading skills in kids:

Reading out Sessions can help develop reading skills in kids

Reading out books for children nowadays is a lesser followed trend. We don't hear much of such activities carried by parents or grandparents. Earlier with joint families, kids would enjoy such healthier session with their grandparents. But nowadays with the nuclear families and hectic work schedules parents don't get to spend such qualitative time with their kids. But to develop the reading skills of kids, parents need to carry out such reading sessions for kids. This can be done daily or once a week just to develop an interest in kids for reading. What parents can do is read out books, any books which kids find interesting. These books could be fairy tales or adventure stories or even an e-book which is nowadays popular. A Read out Session can be part of a Bedtime Routine or a weekend activity when any parent and kids sit and read out books and create interest in kids. Kids can have a small talk session after the parent finishes reading the book. Parents can also ask the kids to readout stories for them very often. This will slowly develop reading skills in kids.

Learning to read at an early age helps to develop reading skills in kids

If a parent is able to create interest for reading in kids at a very young age then their work is almost done. Kids of the age group 3 – 6 shows interest in many activities and always wish to learn more. This is the ideal time when a kid enjoys healthy reading sessions and also develops interest and focus in reading. Start giving out colourful books which are readily available in stores or book shops and allow the kids to explore themselves. There are many books available in stores nowadays which are small and have big fonts and colourful pictures. Such books come in series of stories and kids enjoy reading them. Books from authors like Enid Blyton or Panchantantra series are enjoyed by kids. Hence one should get their young kids reach out for such books and help develop reading skills in kids. As the children keeps growing, encourage them to explore more and more reading materials in various forms and continue to encourage their curiosity and interest in reading.

Active Involvement from parents help develop reading skills in kids

Kids often imitate their parents and if parents don't show any interest in reading, then kids too fail to develop interest in reading. Hence its parents who should play their part very well. Parents should show active involvement in reading and help the kids to develop their reading skills. What a parent can do is as mentioned earlier start a readout session. Apart from reading out books a parent can just read his own book and ask the kid to read his own. Seeing such interest from parents and getting to spend some time with them encourages kids to read and develop reading skills. Parents can discuss about the books they read and tell them in which books they are interested in. Parents can also ask kids for their opinion about books and about their favourite books. Parents can also help build their vocabulary and also teach them how to use Dictionary. If parents continue to actively participate and involve in kids reading session, then eventually kids will start enjoying reading books which in turn will help to develop reading skills in kids.

Speech Therapy can help to develop reading skills in Kids

If your child learnt to speak lately, then that could be one reason why their reading skills aren't developed. In such cases, try and diagnose the problem early and check for solutions. Take a medical advice and tackle the issue. Nowadays use of phonic sounds help children learn sounds very well and aids well to improve speaking skills. Teaching phonics help children to pronounce words easily. Practices like speech Therapy helps kids to speak clearly and quickly. Hence it's advisable to diagnose and treat your child's speaking disorders.

Discouraging kids from playing video and computer games helps develop reading skills in kids

Research has suggested that kids who are more explored to video games or computer games hamper their reading skills. Video games and computer games deprive kids from the existing realities of life and causes to play with their brains. Such kids academically perform very poorly and score less in reading and writing. Hence kids shouldn't be allowed too much of video games and computer games. There should be restricted timings as we possibly can't keep kids away from them. But restricted timings helps in minimizing such activities and kids get more time to explore reading and developing reading skills. The same applies to excessive TV watching. Violent cartoon shows and unrealistic programs hamper child's development and curb their ability to read better.

Well, all these are meant to develop reading skills in children. Thereby, they can have access to more richer vocabulary and consequently better writing skills.

How to Develop Reading Skills in Kids