Entering kindergarten marks a milestone in every child’s education. As they begin school and start to learn reading, parents should do everything they can to support their kids’ development and help them master the new skills they’re learning. One of the most important of these skills is reading. Literacy is commonly cited as the foundation of critical thinking and a predictor of future success, and it facilitates speech and language development by exposing kids to words and language. Parents can further support their kids’ reading, speech and language skills development by planning activities that incorporate effective reading strategies.
Play Word Games
One of the best ways to get a kid excited about language is by playing a game. Whether it’s a board game, video game, or word game, you can grab a kindergartener’s attention with the possible reward of winning. There are plenty of educational games on the market that can offer gamified learning experiences, or you can develop your own games based on your kid’s knowledge and interests. Some examples include a “guess the animal game,” wherein you offer clues about the characteristics of an animal, and your kid tries to guess. You can also use letter magnets or blocks and challenge kids to make a word out of the available letters.
Read As a Family
It shouldn’t come as a surprise that one of the best reading strategies is to simply read! Reading at home is incredibly important for kids of all ages, but it’s vital for Kindergarten-age learners who are just started to get a grasp of reading, writing, and literacy. You can support your kid’s speech and language development by making time for family reading sessions that focus on age-appropriate storytelling. Kids at this age can benefit from sounding out words along with a parent so that they gain an understanding of the correlations between letters and speech sounds.
Talk and Tell Stories
Verbalization is key to a kindergartener’s speech and language development. In addition to reading stories together, you and your child should regularly talk and tell stories, too. Encouraging your kid to tell you stories — and listen to yours — helps them gain an intuitive understanding of narrative structure, which in turn, will help them understand the stories they are reading. You can make casual conversations more productive by sprinkling in new and challenging words and prompting your child to guess what they mean from the context. This helps them learn the understanding of context, which is another important skill for a kindergartener’s speech and language development.
Help Kindergarteners Read and Succeed
Kindergarten teaches kids the reading, writing, and speech and language skills that will become the foundation of their education. Of course, it’s important to support these abilities at home through meaningful activities and conversations. The aforementioned three tips can help you do so in a way that’s fun and effective. If you’re seeking resources for kids who are deaf and hearing-impaired, reach out to HEAR Center.
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Also, for more information about our speech services please visit our webpage: https://www.hearcenter.org/services/speech-language-pathology/