Pre-Reading Skills Kids Need (Other Than Knowing the Alphabet)
At LearningRx Staunton-Harrisonburg, we understand that getting your child ready to learn to read is crucial. Reading readiness encompasses the foundational abilities that children need to master before they can begin to read independently. And while many parents focus on learning the alphabet, there are other pre-reading skills that kids need to master in order to make reading easier to learn as they get older. Here are a few to focus on:
Phonemic Awareness
Phonemic awareness is the ability to hear, identify, and manipulate individual sounds (phonemes) in spoken words. This skill is a critical predictor of reading success. At LearningRx Staunton-Harrisonburg, we use engaging and interactive activities to help children develop their phonemic awareness. Through games, targeted activities, rhymes, and more, children learn to recognize and work with sounds, which lays the foundation for decoding words when they begin to read.
Letter and Sound Recognition
Recognizing letters and understanding that they represent specific sounds is another essential component of reading readiness. While visually recognizing letters is helpful, connecting the letter code to its unique sound is actually more important early on. Instead of reinforcing that this letter → A is an “A,” focus on the fact that it often makes the short /a/ sound. This will set your kids up to recognize the sound-to-code connection that’s so important for learning to read.
Vocabulary Development
A robust vocabulary is vital for reading comprehension. Children with a rich vocabulary can better understand the words they encounter in texts as they progress. By exposing children to a wide range of words and their meanings, you can help them build a strong vocabulary base that supports their reading growth.
Comprehension Skills
Reading is not just about decoding words; it’s about understanding and interpreting meaning. Comprehension skills are essential for making sense of what is read. By teaching children to think critically about texts even before they’re reading independently, you can help them become more effective and engaged readers later on.
Visual Tracking Skills
Being able to follow a line of text across a page is foundational for being able to read. When kids skip around, lose their place, or get overwhelmed, it’s so hard to get them to read fluently and confidently. Doing visual tracking exercises with word searches, find-it games, or other tools can help them build this skill ahead of learning to read.
Sustained Attention and Impulse Control
The fact is that learning to read takes sustained effort and the ability to bounce back from failure and learn from mistakes. For kids who struggle with impulse control, resilience, or pushing through when things get hard, it can feel insurmountable in a lot of ways. Instead of just accommodating this overwhelm by stopping new instruction, building up their mental reserves and resilience can help set them up to become confident readers (even when it’s hard).
Creating a Love for Reading
At LearningRx Staunton-Harrisonburg, we believe that fostering a love for reading is just as important as developing reading skills. It’s important to create a positive and encouraging environment where children can explore books and stories that interest them. By making reading enjoyable and rewarding, we can instill a lifelong passion for learning and literacy in our kids!
Start Today with LearningRx Staunton-Harrisonburg
If you’re looking to boost your child’s reading readiness skills, LearningRx Staunton-Harrisonburg is here to help. Our personalized programs are designed to meet the unique needs of each learner, ensuring that they develop the skills necessary for reading success. Contact us today to learn more about how we can support your child’s reading journey.
