A few tips to help your children with reading comprehension.
Children who struggle with reading tend to struggle in other academic areas as well. This is because reading is a fundamental skill necessary for reading instructions for math homework, understanding concepts in science, and learning history. If you are the parent or grandparent of a child who has difficulty with reading, here are some things you can do to help improve their reading comprehension.
Encourage Your Child to Find Things That They Want to Read About
A big part of knowing how to help children with reading comprehension is encouraging them to find topics that interest them and books that are based on those topics. A child who is interested in trains, for example, is more likely to absorb everything he or she can read on the subject. Rather than trying to make a child read about things that don’t interest them, focus on topics they love. Your child will be more eager to read when the story or subject matter is something they really like.
Read Together Routinely
A good way to get your child to read more and stop struggling with reading is to read together. Most parents or grandparents only need to spend ten or fifteen minutes a day reading books to their children to encourage them to read more. Bedtime reading is an excellent way to help your child read. Take turns reading the pages and providing words of encouragement and support when your child participates in the sharing of bedtime books.
Play into a Child’s Natural Curiosity
Children are naturally curious. They like solving puzzles and are eager to understand why things happen. Mystery series for kids play into children’s natural curiosity, which is what makes mystery stories an ideal way to help kids with reading. Anyone who wants to know how to help children with reading comprehension only has to read mystery stories to a child to get the child curious and involved in the plot.
The Happy Hollisters mystery series is appropriate for readers under the age of 12, and the Hardy Boys mystery series is appropriate for readers over the age of 12. The challenge to young readers is that they may be able to solve the mystery before the main characters do. That requires close attention to detail and increased reading comprehension. They will miss clues in the written passages if they don’t pay attention, which is exactly how they will increase their focus and comprehension.
Join a Club to Hook Your Child on a Children’s Book Series
To increase their motivation, you can sign them up for a book club or subscription plan. Receiving a new book or two each month is one of the best ways to help children with reading comprehension.
Kids know they can’t read the new book in the mail until they finish the old one. Eventually, they will stop asking you to read with them and start reading more on their own.
To make sure they are understanding what they are reading, ask questions. Make it a simple conversation about how the book is going, what the characters are doing, whether they like the story, etc. Teaching comprehension is a lot simpler than you may realize, and teaching yourself how to help children with reading comprehension isn’t difficult either.
If Your Child Still Struggles, Hire a Reading Tutor
If you’ve tried all of the above strategies, but your child still seems to struggle somewhat with reading comprehension, consider hiring a reading tutor. Reading tutors can continue to use some of the same techniques mentioned above, plus a few others that they are trained to use. A tutor might use graphic organizers with pictures to engage and explain story lines or pick different reading material (e.g., classic children’s book series that have been used to teach reading for decades).
There are also virtual tutors; online tutoring programs that can help your child improve his or her reading skills, or actual tutors who can work with your child through visual platforms. Any of these can help your child gain better reading comprehension skills. These virtual tutors and virtual reading programs really help single and/or working parents who can’t be the primary teachers of children who need help with reading.
Check Out The Happy Hollisters Series to Help Your Children Improve Their Reading Skills!
The Happy Hollisters series is perfect for younger readers to improve their reading comprehension skills. Each story contains a mystery that the children have to solve along with the Hollister children.
If you’re interested in The Happy Hollisters series, check it out and join our book club today and get your first book for 10 cents!