Three Ways to Give the Gift of Reading

Give the gift of reading to your child this holiday season.  Many elementary age children struggle with reading and COVID-19 and virtual learning have widned the gap.  In addition, if you were your child’s teacher during the lock down, you saw first-hand how hard reading was for your child.  Since reading is foundational for academic success, your child’s reading needs to be on or above grade level.  Here are three ways you can help improve your elementary age child’s reading.

Gift Number 1

First, use the computer based reading program Nessy at Nessy.com. This reading program is for children in kindergarten through fifth grade and it is based on Orton Gillingham reading principles.  Nessy helps children with dyslexia as well as children with weak phonics.  It has built in assessments, adjusts to your child’s reading level, and provides games and characters as rewards.  I recommend using the Nessy program 4 days per week.  It’s not free but is reasonably priced at $12/ month or less if you purchase annually.

Gift Number 2

Next, you can teach your child using a specialized reading approach.  The Barton Reading and Spelling System was designed for parents and educators to use one-to-one with children.  To use the program you should first take and pass the tutor screening.  Then purchase levels from BartonReading.com.  Each level comes with training on DVD so you can watch the training and then use the program with your child.

Gift Number 3

Third, make reading fun.  Struggling readers find reading laborious and mentally draining so they don’t want to pleasure read.  Regardless of their age, read aloud to your child.  This builds vocabulary and keeps the love of reading alive.  As an alternative use Audible or Bookshare.com and listen to an audio book together.  Young kids enjoy graphic novels like the “Dog Man” series.  Use the book “Create Your Own Graphic Novel: A Guide for Kids” by David Chiu to work with your child and create your own graphic novel.  This provides a fun way to read, write, and draw.  Who knows, your child could become a bestselling author.

We offer dyslexia and ADHD/ADD testing so call 625-4125.