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Having conversations can increase comprehension in kids by building background knowledge and vocabulary. Talking with your children can also help them anticipate language when they are reading on their own.  This means that kids can figure out words quickly by being able to identify words based on the context of the sentence or what is happening in the story.

How do readers solve a tricky word when they are reading?

Readers use a variety of strategies to figure out unknown words.  These include sounding out words, using the picture, thinking about what makes sense, skipping the word and going back to it and breaking up longer words. Oftentimes readers use several of these strategies at once. The goal is to figure out the unknown word quickly.

Readers don’t want to lose the meaning of what is happening in the story by stopping at a word for too long. Efficiency is key in solving unknown words. Having conversations with your children can directly support them in figuring out words quickly by helping them use the sentence structure and the context of what is happening in the story. Having conversations can also increase comprehension in kids by helping them make connections and understanding the main idea in a story.

How does talking to your child help with reading?

Being a parent has allowed me to witness firsthand how having conversations can increase comprehension in kids.  In today’s world of technology, having a mini computer as a phone has meant that people often spend time communicating using their phone. Smart phones can replace in person conversation easily if we choose to let them.

It is important to make time to have conversations with each other. You can do this by taking walks outside, having dinner conversations, or spending time with your child without the distraction of technology. Talking to your child is a basic everyday thing that you can do to support your child with literacy. Also, having conversations with your child begins well before your child enters school.

I remember when my son, Tim was little, that I would point to things around the house and tell him what they were. I would often narrate what I was doing when I was doing daily household tasks such as doing the laundry or making dinner. Even though Tim didn’t respond with words, he was hearing my words and listening to language. In doing so, I was helping build his vocabulary, model sentence structure and build his background knowledge about household chores.

Once Tim could talk and even now, he will often use the language that has heard from me.  For example, for snack recently, I asked him if he would rather have peaches or cheese and crackers and he said that he would “prefer” cheese and crackers.  Where did he get the word “prefer”? Clearly, I must have used that expression and he picked up on it. Not only did Tim use the word, but he used it correctly when he answered my question.  Having conversations with your child regularly helps build your child’s vocabulary which in turn supports their reading comprehension.

To help support language and reading development  and increase comprehension in kids at home you could:

• Go on a walk outside with your child and talk about what is happening outside during that season. For example, in the spring you could talk about the following: buds forming, trees growing new grass turning green, and why birds fly back after having migrated south for the cold winter. Seasons are often topics covered in the early grades. There are also many stories that your child will read about seasons at school.  Your conversations will help build vocabulary, comprehension and background knowledge on this topic.

• Use sophisticated vocabulary when you speak with your child. For example, my husband and Tim were playing soccer the other day. Tim finally got the ball away from my husband. I said to Tim, “Nice Job Tim, you were determined to get that soccer ball from Daddy.” Tim asked me what determined meant and we talked about how determined means not giving up.

• Model language with appropriate sentence structure and grammar. This is probably something that you have been doing anyway before your child could even talk. Children are still making sense of the English language in the early grades and Tim is still occasionally working on mastering tenses or using other words correctly when he speaks such as saying “I rand to get the ball instead of I ran to get the ball.” When he says this incorrectly, I might say “Oh, you ran to get the ball” to help model it correctly.

• When you are reading together with your child, pick a couple of new words to talk about. Discuss the meanings of these words and use them context and in conversation if the situation arises. By helping build your child’s vocabulary, you are directly supporting reading development and comprehension.

Hope these tips help you when you have conversations with your child!