Wednesday 22 April 2015

How to Develop Reading Skills in Kids

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

- 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 questions and answers. To develop reading skills, parents need to first of all create an interest in kids for reading and that's not going to happen very easily. Parents would need to map out some special efforts to develop the reading skills in their 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 the skills in children. Reading skills play a very important role in a kid's life right from his young age.

Here are few importance of developing reading skills in kids:

1. Reading skills help in developing language skill in children. 

2. Helps in improving academic performance.

3. Helps in enhancing their knowledge and enriches their lives. 

4. Helps to develop their social skills.

5. Improves hand-eye co-ordination in kids.

6. Helps to improve confidence and self-esteem in kids.

7. Opens new world of knowledge and information for kids.

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

How to develop reading skills in kids

1. Read out books to your kids: Reading out books to kids makes learning fun. When your kids enjoy the session, they look forward to the next session. This can be done daily or once a week just to create some excitement around reading.

2. Develop the skills at an early age: If parents are 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 show interest in many activities and always wish to learn more. This 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 kid to explore himself.

3.Speech Therapy can help develop reading skills in Kids:If your child learnt to speak very late than expected, that could be one reason why his 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 speak them easily. 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.

4.Discourage your kids from playing video and computer games at every little chance they have: Video and computer games deprive kids from the existing realities of life and 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 timing as one possibly can't keep kids away from them completely. But restricted timing helps in minimizing such activities and kids get more time to explore reading and developing reading skills

Now that you have learnt how to develop reading skills in your kids, why don't you start right away, and bring out the genius in your child.

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