A Speech Pathologist's Top 10 Tips for Reading with Your Child
For our first blog post of the school year, we invited Cortney Lhota, MA CCC-SLP, of Sol Speech, Language Therapy, & Wellness to share her top ten tips for reading with your child.
Hi Hyde Park families! I’m Cortney, founder of Sol. I’ve been a nationally certified speech-language pathologist for over nine years, currently practicing in Austin, Texas, by way of Miami and D.C. I’m excited to connect with you and your children!
The more you read to your children, the greater an interest they’ll have in finding stories and books to read on their own. This is important, as reading independently gives children the skills they need to build literacy. Reading also helps to expand their vocabulary and view the world from perspectives they may not have considered. Here are my top 10 tips to make the most out of reading with your child!
Sit face to face so your preschooler can see the book and your face. It’s helpful for your child to be able to see facial expressions while we read, and our mouths as we produce new words. This will make comprehension and imitation a lot easier for your child.
Make voices to differentiate characters and change the expression of your voice to help build emotional awareness.
Take some time to talk about the pictures that go with the stories you’re reading. Don’t just name the objects in the pictures, but use action words, to describe what is happening in the pictures.
Find ways to help your child connect things that happen to characters in a book, to their own life. Relate new vocabulary to what your child already knows. Building these understandings make reading more fun and interesting.
Certain words are more important than others in understanding the meaning of a book or story. Stress important words by changing the pitch, volume or speed of your voice so they are highlighted as something to pay attention to.
Break stories into smaller units and ask questions about what is going on.
Encourage your child to use deductive reasoning to guess what happens next, or to compare what’s happening in the book to situations they’ve faced in real life. This can help develop your child’s problem-solving skills and imagination.
Provide pauses or “wait time” to allow your child to formulate their own thoughts and ideas and to ask their own questions.
Have your child handle the book before, during or after reading. Have them identify different parts of the book, such as the front and back covers, the spine, and pages in the book.
Most importantly, create a fun, inviting reading experience so your child comes back for more! You can do this by venturing out to the library to pick out engaging books together or by finding a comfy nook in your home for reading.
To connect with Corntey email her at hello@solspeechandwellness.com or visit her website.