For some children, learning to read aloud isn’t the difficult bit. The difficult bit is understanding what they read – reading comprehension.
But it can be really hard to know how to help with this problem – especially when they just don’t seem to ‘get’ it. So here are 5 specific ideas to support reading for meaning.
Where is the child with their general level of understanding – outside of reading?
1. Even if our child is bright and able, it is worth checking their understanding of everyday situations. This might sound odd, but it does help separate out some of the potential problems around reading. I have been surprised at some of the responses I’ve had from children when I’ve asked them specific questions about situations around them.
For example, ask about people’s reactions or their comprehension of spoken stories and language. If any of this is a challenge, we can try modelling our own thought processes and answers in everyday situations. (This takes the pressure off the child though it puts a bit of pressure on us sometimes to explain our thought processes – how do we know?!). This is particularly useful when we have to infer meaning – work out what is being implied even when it’s not explicit. For example,
“Your coat is soaked, you’ve just walked in from outside, so it must be raining.”
“Wow, he’s red in the face. Either he has just run a race or he’s very cross or embarrassed. But I’m guessing he’s finished a race because he’s in PE kit and looks pretty smiley and happy – not embarrassed or cross.”
Modelling thought processes and answers is especially useful if the child is reluctant to answer questions! It is also a way to practise this skill outside the “reading environment”.
Pre-teach before reading
2. This is all about helping create success with understanding – setting up the situation before actually reading. So, talk about any real life activity / place / person the child may relate to which links to the text. Discuss what we can deduce or learn from the pictures or title – and how we know. Talk about any vocabulary or concept which might be tricky before reading. You can pre-teach through talking, showing (objects, photos) or even acting out.
The purpose of this is to give the child a good basis for understanding the reading themselves – which in turn gives motivation and self-esteem.
Become a reading comprehension detective
3. Encourage the child to spot “clues” in the text which lead to understanding. If we give a specific question, then they can highlight the words which lead us to the answer. Perhaps they can spot a clue then we can spot one? (If you spot first, don’t take the easiest clue, leave it for the child!).
For example, in this writing, can you answer the question, “What is the man’s job?”.
A man rang the doorbell. Mum welcomed him in and showed him the leaky tap in the kitchen. There was a big pool of water under the sink too. The man got out his tool bag sand started removing the tap and checking the pipes.
It is important for the child – and us – to explain why they think the word is a “clue”. Some clues are secondary clues (eg “rang the doorbell” infers he is a visitor, but not a plumber). Even if the child answers the original question immediately, it is worth following up with “how do you know?”. More text usually equals more clues, so it’s often easier to do this exercise with a few sentences initially.
Detective work can be made more exciting if we have time and resources by using post-it notes to identify clues; seeing who can come up with the best / most clues; using highlighters on a photocopied page etc.
The above is also a good example where pre-teaching might help – it would be important to know what a plumber does before reading this text!
Make reading fun
4. I know it’s a cliché…However, for children who have developed a habit of reading without understanding, reading is not particularly interesting. I can read aloud (decode) in German. My understanding of German though is so poor, that reading in German is pointless and boring for me….
- Start with a book of high interest, then diversify into less comfortable topics
- By including the above points in ‘reading time’ at home, we automatically expand the content (and hopefully interest) of reading time. “Reading time” will include talking, listening, looking, highlighting….and hopefully with the focused attention of an adult (which most children enjoy!)
- If reading has become a difficult task, break the cycle and do something differently: read in a different room, at a different time, with a different person etc. If reading has become a real battle, consider my “7 stage re-set“.
Predict and imagine to improve reading comprehension
5. If you can imagine what is going on when you read, you are likely to understand better. You can empathise with the characters and engage more readily with plot or flow of the text. If it’s difficult to predict an appropriate end to the story – or a possible ‘what happens next’ – then it might be worth practising visualisation.
- Look at a picture and ask the child to describe it in increasing detail – transferring the visual image into verbal language
- Ask them to describe a place they know well, such as a classroom – transferring a memorised image into detailed verbal language
- Encourage them to describe a recent event and ask them questions to flex their memory and to visualise it again
- Can they guess a simple one-off event? Eg what might be for dinner?
This is answering a simple, fairly predictable questions, without knowing the answer
- Can they discuss an unknown outcome (eg the end of the a story) with our explained suggestions?
This is about suggesting possible ideas and the child discussing why the ideas might or might not be likely to happen. They see that uncertainty is normal.
- Can they predict what happens next in a story (perhaps with some prompts)?
This is talking through the ‘clues’ which lead us to a prediction – and having the confidence to suggest an answer.
Most of the above can be done without reading. They can be integrated into everyday conversation and events. We just need to be on the look our for opportunities and then actually talk a bit more about what we are thinking and why. However, it all underpins reading comprehension.
Finally, my suggestion is to take your time but keep going. If your child struggles with reading for meaning or reading comprehension, don’t be afraid to focus on that even if it means “reading” less (and recording less pages in a school homework diary!). Good luck!
PS For further help you may wish to review the reading for meaning webpage too.