Familiarizing yourself with words is important when you’re trying to build on reading and comprehension. For this article, we are going to say that you are working with your child to improve comprehension skills.
You need to first get a quick refresher on what comprehending really means. For your child to comprehend, the words on the page must go beyond static meaning and become dynamic movies in their mind. In order for your child to create this movie they need to have some basic cognitive skills and literacy skills in place.
For example, cognitively, your child first needs the ability to read and visualize. A strong cognitive foundation of attention, memory, visual/auditory processing and analysis must be in place.
Your child must then use these cognitive skills to be able to decode the text on the page. From there, your child should be able to follow the story and make sense of the author’s writing style and organization of the story. For this, your child needs strong executive function and logic/reasoning. That just about covers a complete cognitive foundation that is necessary for reading comprehension to be successful.
Let’s say your child has a strong cognitive foundation in place. You now need to ensure that your child can make use of these skills to begin comprehending. For example, your child needs to understand that stories have an organization to them. Most stories have a title page, table of contents, we read left to right and top down, the pages are sequenced, etc.
Once the basic understanding to a story is present, then the fun begins. Your child needs to master language concepts. The most common language weakness that I find working with students is receptive vocabulary. In order for your child to make sense of a story, they not only need to read the story but must understand the meaning of the printed word.
However, knowing the meaning of a word includes understanding in “a broad sense” the many different meanings of the same word, the forms of the word (noun, verbs, adj., etc). This is known as syntax or your child’s ability to understand the meaning of the word based on its usage in a sentence.
For example, we could use the word devious differently in two sentences to reflect the two different meanings of the word. The word devious is an adjective but it has two different meanings.
1. The runners followed a devious path up a big hill. In this example, devious means “Having many twists and turns or winding.
2. The villain used a devious plan to capture the superhero. In this second example, devious means sneaky or not honest.
Your child must understand the multiple meanings how the words are used in context within the sentence and overall story. A great way to bring this concept home and anchor it into your child’s memory is through visualization. Once the multiple meanings have been mastered, be sure to ask your child how they are seeing the sentence in their mind come to life.
You would ask your child to describe their short “clip” about the villain and the runner’s using as much detail as possible. When you begin reading with your child have them image sentence by sentence at first. This process, itself, will be an eye opener for you.
Great executive functioning skills come into play to organize the reading session prior to beginning. Now, that you know what must be mastered for reading, make your job a bit easier.
Instead of discovering words along the way as you read with your child, employ a strategy known as a “book walk.” You scan over the story prior to beginning with your child. Then, you identify words that may present a challenge for your child. Work through these words in context prior to reading. Your child will have a much more enjoyable time comprehending.
Another quick tip is to try and remember to talk about ideas in the book as it relates to your child’s world. A good sense of “self” is important for your child to be able to relate the concepts or story lines being discussed. You can discuss the events in a story as it relates directly to your child (text-to-self), or to world (text-to-world) or about another story your child has read (text-to-text). You can ask your child questions:
What we just read reminds of the time you …..
What we just read reminds me of what your teacher just discussed in class about (world events)
What we just read reminds me of the last book you read when ….
It is important to understand the broad requirements to comprehend successfully. Most parents just think that a good memory is necessary. If their child is not remembering the material being read, your child may not have understood what was being read and thus could not remember the information. Also, your child may not be remembering what was read because they could not relate to the material or they could not visualize the material playing out as a dynamic instance in their mind.
What can you do to discover your child’s strengths in reading and comprehension? The first step is taking my online cognitive assessment created by Dr. Gibson.
I would be honored to help you and provide you with a ton of resources once we know your child’s cognitive measures. If you are looking to bypass cognitive training and reach for receptive vocabulary improvement, I highly recommend wordly wise 3000. I use this with my students who go through my Student Transformation System. Although my students all have strong cognitive skills prior to using this program, you can still reach to their website to “introduce” vocabulary and play some games to help with the process.
Want To Use This Article In Your Ezine or Website? I would be honored, and just ask that you include the following with the article:
Colleen Bain is the best-selling author of Overcomers Inc. She writes, trains and consults in advanced brain training for children and their parents, teachers and professionals. Professionals also look to Colleen for her expert coaching relative to starting and expanding a brain training business. To find out how Enhanced Learning Skills for Kids can help you – visit How Enhanced Learning Skills for Kids Can Help Your Child!
