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This post will focus on what to say when your child gets stuck an on word.  Here a couple of tips on what you can say and do when your child reads to you at home.

1. Wait first before correcting your child when he or she makes an error.  Waiting first allows your child time to correct his or her mistake, known as self-correcting.  Readers often correct mistakes by using what makes sense in the story or checking to make sure that the word matches the word in the story.  For example, if your child was reading a page in a book and read, “The ducks swim to the pond” instead of  “The ducks swam to the pond”, wait to see if your child realizes that the word  “swim” does not match the word “swam” in the story. If your child does not self correct the mistake then you can intervene.

2. Teach. Prompt. Reinforce. 

Teach. When your child stops or is stuck on a word, first teach your child what to do.  For example, if you child stops and does not say anything, you can say. “When you get stuck, you can say your first sound and that can help you.” Then model for you child by reading the sentence and saying the first sound of the word that your child is stuck on.  See if your child is able to figure out the word by just saying the first sound. You can teach your child to use strategies by modeling.

Prompt. Once you have taught your child to use a strategy, prompt your child to use the strategy if your child stops and gets stuck on a word.  For example, once you have taught using the first sound. prompt your child to use the strategy by saying “Say the first sound.” Keep the language the same and brief each time your prompt.

Reinforce. When your child uses a strategy independently that you taught or prompted them for, point it out to them. To reinforce the strategy you can say, “Nice work saying the first sound to help you with that tricky word” or “you used the first sound to figure out that tricky word. Awesome!”

3. Be consistent, be specific and be brief. When helping your child, make sure to keep your language consistent especially when you are prompting your child to use a strategy.  Make sure to be specific. Instead of saying, “Nice job!” say, “Nice work saying the first sound to help you with that tricky word.” Be brief. You shouldn’t have to interrupt the flow of reading for too long or too many times or reading will feel laborious. If you are correcting too many times, then the book is most likely too difficult.

Stay tuned for my next post in which I will talk more about what to say when your child gets stuck on a word and I will also discuss different reading strategies.