Learning to Read
Click on the titles, to find out more about them from Amazon
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Some people find reading easy, and some find it difficult; and it all depends on how they think.
Some people need phonetics and, while English is not fonetickly reliable, phonetics can help with sounding out long, or new, words.
Most people, in my experience, simply see the word and recognise it; but HOW?
It all starts with loving books. My granddaughter, Charlie was born in December 2002 and, at a very early age, was given those lovely padded cloth books which are a vast improvement on the floppy linen ones my children had: the pages are easy to turn, and remain solid. We also gave her a photograph album, made the same way, which she much enjoys.
Babies put themselves into training for doing what other members of the family do. If the family reads books and papers, the baby will also want to 'read' books and papers too . Charlie spends hours perusing colour supplements. Nurtured
by Love, by Shinichi Suzuki describes how Dr Suzuki taught mothers how to play the violin, how the mothers bought their children miniature violins, and how the children copied their mothers because playing the violin was just a thing that grown-ups did. Result: tiny tots playing the violin quite beautifully.
Babies love anything that makes a noise. One of Charlie's favourite books is Spot's Noisy Walk, which has a series of buttons to press which produce sound effects. Some of you will have grown up with the irritating Spot (who now has an even more irritating laugh), but we endure it, because the result is that Charlie loves books. (She also loves pressing buttons, so the television remote control has had its batteries deliberately removed.)
For Christmas 2003, I got her a selection of Dr Seuss board books. Why Dr
Seuss? In my experience, what children love is rhyme, rhythm, strong characters, a good story and wonderful pictures, all of which Dr Seuss supplied aplenty, until his death in 1991. Dr Seuss revolutionised children's reading: until his arrival on the scene, they were bored to tears by the dreaded Janet and John books. Dr Seuss brought them FUN!
Another thing that children love is cuddling up with someone else and being the centre of attention; and Dr Seuss's unique selling point is that adults love his books as well, and really enjoy reading them. My children were never taught to read, they learned the Dr Seuss books by heart, just by listening and looking at the pictures, and they taught themselves the reading bit.
Be warned, the publishers are still producing books under Dr Seuss's name, which are not nearly as good as his are. Click
here, so you can check which books are by him, and which are not; it also tells you which he contributed to under a pseudonym.
The board books Charlie has got so far are:
Oh, The Thinks you can Think
They're the perfect shape for small hands, and turning the pages is easy.
We're waiting for:
One
Fish, Two Fish, Red Fish, Blue Fish, which will be out soon, and you can pre-order.
(Years ago, a small boy who couldn't read was brought to me by his worried mother. We settled down and read One Fish, Two Fish together. The pictures tell you what the words say, and the rhythm of the verse reminds you when you have left something out. When his mother returned, he read her the first seven pages all by himself.)
These are all very simple, and very silly, with wonderful rhymes, and the readers subconsciously learn that sounds can be spelt differently, eg 'Fox in Socks'. The pictures tell you what the words are, so in next to no time people can read them all by themselves.
And I couldn't resist the 'lift-and-look' version of Green
Eggs and Ham, although I thought it would have to wait until she was a bit older, as it's full size. Not a bit of it! It's her favourite. This book was written to win a bet that he couldn't produce a book with only 50 words in it. Books with flaps for the baby to lift up and discover something underneath provide hours of fun - but the flaps need to be sturdy to survive.
We're saving Dr Seuss's ABC until a bit later, because the board book is condensed, and it loses some of its original charm. We'll keep you posted about what she likes best.
For older readers, there are
These have added frisson. The cat turns up when the parents are out, and wreaks havoc in the house, to the horror of the children, but it all turns out all right in the end. The Cat in the Hat has only 225 words.
In this age bracket, there are lovely books in the same series, by other people, for example:
And, for older children, there lots and lots more, like:
"If your child is still having problems with reading, here is an interesting quote from the Keith Holland & Associates' website: 'Several recent studies have suggested that as many as eighty percent of dyslexic children have unresolved eye problems contributing to their reading and spelling difficulties - even though they may see well and pass simple vision screening tests such as those carried out in schools'. The Hollands are doing very interesting work with learning. Click here to find out more."
See 'Useful Books' under 'Learning to Read' for more children's favourites that they will really enjoy reading.
ABOVE ALL remember that, when things are fun, we learn; and when they're not, we don't.
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