Important Dates

Speech Pathologist

We recently celebrated book week at Sirius College, so to stay in the theme… I thought I’d focus on improving your child’s reading comprehension! Thanks to David Kinnane from ‘Banter Speech & Language’ for the information.

1. Use existing knowledge to predict

Pull out a main idea from the text (e.g. the main character, Jane, is sick) and ask a question that ties the idea to your child’s experience (“Remember when you were sick?”). Ask your child to predict what will happen based on their own experience (“I stayed home from school, then went to the doctor. Maybe Jane will do the same”). Stop half-way through the story and ask your child to predict what will happen, and why they think it will happen. This will encourage your child to make inferences and to think about the deeper meaning of the story.

2. Question time – use the “wh” words

On separate cards, write: who, what, when, where, why, and how. Get your child to ask questions about what they are reading using each word. For example: Who is the main character/hero? When did this story happen (e.g. part and time of day/night, season, year)? Where did it happen (e.g. planet, desert)? What happened? Why did it happen? How did the hero fix the problem?

3. Visualise – take a photo or video inside your head

Explain to your child that making an image in their heads about what is described will help them remember what they read. Ask your child to examine and describe pictures depicting a scene. Then take the pictures away, and ask your child to picture them in their head (shape, colour, size etc) what they are made of, their parts, etc). Ask your child to describe it in as much detail as possible. Read a sentence, then describe what you see to your child.

4. Monitor, clarify, and fix up

Use traffic signs to explain strategies to your child, e.g. a stop sign for stop reading and try to explain what is happening; or U-turn to re-read parts of the text that make no sense. Write strategies on cards with their signs, and ask your child to apply the strategies when they don’t understand what they are reading.

5. Infer from key words

Teach your child how to look for key words that help them understand the text, e.g. nouns and verbs (e.g. if the text says doctor, needle, stethoscope, it’s likely that the story is happening in a medical centre or hospital). Identify key words in a sample of the text and explain what your child can learn about the text from those words.

6. Summarising/retelling

Ask your child to describe what happened in their own words. If your child can’t do it, prompt them with questions like “What comes next?” or “What else did the book say about [subject]”?