Reading can be a journey into the imagination and a place of joy for children – or it can be a nightmare. Some children are keen to read from age 4 or 5, while others still struggle at 7 or 8 (and beyond). Why? Well, there’s a few things that can affect readiness to read:
Environment – Studies show that children who are surrounded by words and books from a young age are much more likely to enjoy reading. For example, you could read to little ones at night time, have books in the house within reaching distance, stick up an alphabet poster and point out words on the iPad, on signs when you’re out and about – even on TV ads! It’s also important that your kids see you reading and enjoying it as they will want to copy you – what better reason to indulge in a magazine?!
Education – Some teaching methods such as the Rudolf Steiner method do not begin formal reading and writing until children have reached a certain point of maturity (eg their adult teeth come through). While this does mean that play and creativeness are fostered, children develop individually at different times which means some children may not begin reading until 8 or 9 under this type of education.
Eyes – Visual processing issues can make it nearly impossible for a child to read and gain meaning from words – which means it’s extremely likely that they won’t read for enjoyment! Eye tracking is arguably the most important skill needed for learning to read. Eye tracking is when a dominant eye tracks across a page of writing from left to right, guiding the movement of the non-dominant eye, which follows the movements exactly (this may also be called laterality – an awareness of and ability to cross a body midline). While one child’s frontal lobes may have matured enough to allow eye tracking to occur accurately, another child’s muscles will not be ready yet. This child, no matter how hard he tries, will not be able to get his eyes to team together to follow a page. If you think this is a possibility, I’d definitely recommend taking your child to a Behavioural Optometrist before doing any kind of reading programs. These professionals assess – and treat – eye tracking abilities and provide exercises and follow up to check progress. Some people find Irlen Lenses to be helpful for visual stress – although it’s important to note that the World Health Organisation currently doesn’t list Irlen’s Syndrome as a recognised disorder.
Fun ways to get reading going:
- Hold treasure hunts for your children – I have never met a child that doesn’t love this game. Hand them a note with simple instructions or clues to find the next hidden note – 5 to 6 notes is usually a good start – with a surprise to find at the end
- Cook together following a simple recipe – you can point out useful words to your child or have them go through the ingredients list with you
- Websites such as Storybird.com are great for creative kids – they can write their own story by selecting the pictures (you can even print this later). Kids love reading stories they’ve written themselves
- Is there a computer of video game your child has been begging you for? Often these games have some written instructions, or at least words that kids need to recognise to be able to play. This can be as simple as ‘start’ or ‘save.’ Let your kids take the time to work out the word if they don’t know it straight away – the more they see it during the game, the quicker it will become recognisable to them
Good luck and have fun with it!
