Helping Your Special Needs Child LOVE Reading
By zieglerzoo | Leave A Comment
By zieglerzoo | Leave A Comment
Children who have a reading disability often times grow up to hate reading. As humans we avoid things that cause us pain or make us uncomfortable. Reading is part of our everyday lives, and even with all the technological advances, our children will need to read throughout their education. Here are some of my favorite tips to help your child learn to love books.
- Let them see you read. All too often we do our personal reading after the kiddos have gone to bed. Let them see you read a book, magazine, newspaper, or whatever has words printed on it. You are your child’s best model.
- Talk about books. Encourage older kids to talk about what they are reading. Ask questions about the plot, characters, and settings. Not only does this promote reading comprehension, but showing interest in their reading can encourage them to read more.
- Visit the library or bookstores often. Help your child find books they like. Show them the ones you loved as a child. Encourage them to use the online book searches and library resources. Try going to a story time, let them see other kids enjoying books.
- Value all types of reading. I often hear parents complain that their child will only read “SI for Kids” or “Nick Jr.” Guess what . . . that is reading! Try to focus on what your child enjoys reading, even if it is the backs of baseball cards. The Guinness Book of World Records and Almanacs were always favorites of my students.
Remember, all children develop at different rates. It is about your child, not about your neighbor’s child. How do you promote reading to your child? Share your tips!
photo by: Luis Fabres
FILED UNDER: Parenting
ABOUT zieglerzoo
Janet is a wife, mom, and teacher. She keeps busy teaching special education, chasing her son, cheri{read more}
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This was so hard for me. My daughter, who is now 5, LOVED to read. We would read for hours every day. Then, my son, was born. He was difficult from day one and when I started to try to get him engaged in picture books (at 6 months, just like with my daughter), he would start screaming, crying, arching his back. He wanted nothing to do with them. This went on every night until he was 15.5 months. The first time he looked at the books with me … I started crying. It took EVERY night for almost a year for him to look at one book. I tried every type of book … different times of day … the only constant time of day was in the evening before bed. Eventually, once we got a diagnosis and he began different therapies, his sensitivities to every day life decreased and he began to let me read books to him occasionally. But it is only NOW – when he is 4.5 years old – that he will sit and let me read books to him (better yet, he even ASKS for book time!!). Only dinosaur books for now. But that is okay. We talk about the pictures in addition to reading the story … I ask him questions about what is going on with the characters. So, w/o him really noticing it, we are also working on some of his ABA goals (identifying objects, etc.).
My advice – get other children involved when you are working with your special needs child. My daughter has been a huge help in getting my son to WANT to read. He sees her reading with me and sees her looking at books by herself. She “reads” to him too. That made a big difference.
And don’t give up! It’s sooo important to foster that love of reading! Find a topic (or topics) that they like and get books on it. In the beginning, shorten the “reading” part of it and just summarize what is going on to keep their interest. It’s worth every second of hard work the first time you really finish a book cover to cover with your child still interested!!!
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