One of the questions I ask when parents are concerned about their child’s language skills is “how do they do at story time?” Most parents realize that they should be reading to their child, but many don’t really know why. Reading with your child is an important daily activity that teaches so many skills including: new vocabulary words, listening and speaking skills, and phonemic awareness (just to name a few). Many studies show that reading to your child helps develop literacy and language skills, but it’s not just about what you read, but how you read it.
“Dialogic reading” is a interactive reading strategy that focuses on preparing the child to gradually become the story teller. Look beyond the fancy title and you’ll see that this is a simple, but powerful, technique that focuses on making story time more interactive. This strategy focuses on shared interaction during book reading, as opposed to one person being the “reader” and one being the “listener.” While using this strategy the adult prompts the child to say something about the book, evaluates the child’s response, and then expands on it. As the child becomes more familiar with the book, the adult can read less and listen more, allowing the child to take the lead.
It’s so common for parents to feel the need to read a book, word for word, and expect their child to sit and listen. I encourage parents to throw those old story time “rules” out! The shared enjoyment of reading a book together should be the first goal, even if that means you just look at the pictures.
When reading to your child, try these strategies to encourage more engagement and help develop their language skills:
Pause to see if your child will fill in the blank at the end of a sentence of a familiar book.
Ask specific questions about the book as you read.
Ask your child to tell you about the pictures in the book.
Ask wh- questions (such as “who?”, “what?”, “when?” and “where?”).
Relate pictures in the book to the child’s own experiences.
For more information about dialogic reading, visit:
https://ies.ed.gov/ncee/wwc/Docs/InterventionReports/wwc_dialogic_reading_042710.pdf