Reading books with your child is a powerful way to build their speech and language skills. Even flipping through picture books with your baby or reading bedtime stories to your toddler can give them a head start on vital language skills like vocabulary and comprehension.
In today’s blog post, we’ll explore how reading helps your child build strong language skills and what to do if they need extra support.
Reading Stories Helps Increase Your Child’s Vocabulary
Books are full of words your child might not encounter in everyday conversation. From descriptive adjectives to action-packed verbs, stories introduce tons of new language in context. Hearing new words used repeatedly, such as by reading familiar stories, can help your child add them to their own vocabulary.
When you read aloud, you should encourage your child to ask if they don’t know what a certain word means. You can explain what the word means in a simple way that your child can understand. You can even get a simple children’s dictionary and make a game of “finding” what the new word means.
Not only will this help increase your child’s vocabulary, but it will encourage them to be curious about new words and teach them how to find out what words mean. These are skills that will help your child throughout their entire life!
Talking About Stories Can Help Build Your Child’s Reading Comprehension
Reading isn’t just about figuring out words; it’s about understanding the story. Asking questions like “Why do you think the character did that?” or “What do you think will happen next?” encourages critical thinking and reading comprehension.
When you’re reading together with an older child, you can even ask questions like, “What would you do if you were that character?” This can help encourage your child to think more creatively about the story.
Then when the story is over, you can talk about what happened and ask your child about their favorite parts. This can help solidify your child’s comprehension of the story and give them a chance to build their own storytelling skills.
Letting Your Child Read to You Helps Them Improve Their Speech Skills
Lastly, when your child is old enough, you can have them read stories to you, instead! Not only will this continue to build their reading skills, but it gives them a chance to practice their speech skills, as well. You can help them learn to sound out unfamiliar words and encourage them to use funny voices for different characters. This can help keep reading fun while giving your child the practice they need to develop strong speech skills like articulation and rhythm.
Reach Out to Rebound for Expert Support
If your child struggles to understand what they’re reading, has trouble forming sentences, or is difficult to understand when they speak, our speech therapists at Rebound can help. We’ll work with your child to create a customized plan that supports their unique needs.
Give us a call at (785) 367-3079 to schedule a consultation with one of our speech therapists today.
