{"id":16,"date":"2008-08-27T12:41:32","date_gmt":"2008-08-27T16:41:32","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/christinewoodcock.com\/blog\/?p=16"},"modified":"2008-08-27T12:41:32","modified_gmt":"2008-08-27T16:41:32","slug":"how-can-i-help-my-child-with-reading-comprehension","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/christinewoodcock.com\/blog\/2008\/08\/how-can-i-help-my-child-with-reading-comprehension\/","title":{"rendered":"How can I help my child with reading comprehension?"},"content":{"rendered":"

**This article originally appeared on <\/strong>qwowi.com<\/strong><\/a>**<\/strong><\/p>\n

As a professor specializing in reading, I am frequently asked this question by worried parents.\u00a0 I\u2019m not surprised, considering how complex and confusing comprehension can be.\u00a0 Although there are no \u201cquick-fix recipes\u201d to solve the complexities of comprehension, I can offer some relatively simple strategies.\u00a0 When applied consistently and patiently, these strategies will help comprehension dramatically.\u00a0 The key is to make comprehension explicit with strategy use.\u00a0 Since comprehension is in our heads, and is therefore invisible and intangible, as adults, we need to make our strategy use as hands-on, concrete, and explicit as possible.<\/p>\n

How many times have you read an entire paragraph, or even a whole page, and you have no idea what you just read?\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

It happens all of the time, to the best of us!\u00a0 Even really accomplished readers suffer from this same problem at times.\u00a0 That is because our eyes can float over words, and our brains automatically decode the words, yet we are not truly reading because we are not making any meaning from the words.\u00a0 In order to say we have sincerely read something, we have to have derived meaning from, it. Otherwise, the glossy-eyed \u201creading\u201d is simply referred to as decoding, and not reading. In other words, when we read, it has to make sense, otherwise we\u2019re not really reading.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Comprehension is NOT natural for many people.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Many children are decoders, not readers.\u00a0 Children must know that text is supposed to make sense. Similarly, lots of children, unfortunately, simply don\u2019t know how to comprehend, merely because no one has ever showed them how to make meaning from a text.\u00a0 The connections come easer and quicker for some than others.\u00a0 Most adults cannot point to a specific time when they learned to comprehend.\u00a0 It is something we just\u2026 did.\u00a0 The problem is that some youngsters need and deserve explicit instruction in how to comprehend.\u00a0 When this happens, they can grow up loving to read, and seeing the value in reading!\u00a0 Not surprisingly, folks who have severe difficulties comprehending hate to read.\u00a0 It\u2019s a safe bet to assume they would love to read if they had explicit comprehension instruction.<\/p>\n

Comprehension is an active, inner conversation<\/strong><\/p>\n

Unlike passive activities such as playing video games or watching TV, reading is an active process in our brains.\u00a0 Strategic readers address their thinking in an inner conversation that helps them make sense of what they read.\u00a0 Help to foster these inner (and outer) conversations with your children by discussing their texts with them.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Readers take the written word and construct meaning based on their own thoughts, knowledge, and experiences.\u00a0 Help your child to make explicit, personal connections to the text they are reading.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Provide structure for your child to think when they read.\u00a0 Children must develop an awareness of their own thinking, so that they can monitor themselves while they read.<\/p>\n

Cognitive Capacity<\/strong><\/p>\n

In my other recent article for Query Cat entitled \u201cHow can we help struggling readers?\u201d I shared some of the following pointers for children who are having trouble reading.\u00a0 In our brains, we have what is called a Cognitive Capacity.\u00a0 I sometimes jokingly refer to this concept as my \u201ccup runneth over!\u201d\u00a0 In simple terms, when any of us feel frustrated with something, our brain power stops. There is only so much we can focus on at a given time, and the rest understandably turns to mush.\u00a0 Unfortunately, we have all had what I refer to as a \u201cmeltdown,\u201d when the stress of something just gets to be too much.\u00a0 Typically, and sadly, this is exactly what happens to a reader\u2019s Cognitive Capacity when he\/she is trying to comprehend something that is just too difficult.\u00a0 The child is trying so hard to decode a word– letter by painful letter– that he\/she loses track, and can\u2019t make heads or tails of the entire thing.\u00a0<\/p>\n

I know this may seem overly simplistic, but\u2026<\/strong><\/p>\n

Your children need books that they can actually read!\u00a0 When considering your child\u2019s reading comprehension difficulties, the difficulty level of the text may be more than 90% of the battle.\u00a0 When a book is too hard, your child is using up all of his\/her brain power on decoding the words, that he\/she simply cannot make any sense of it. On the other hand, when your child reads books that are comfortable, he\/she can have the inner conversations and attempt to make sense of the text in an enjoyable and much less agonizing way.\u00a0<\/p>\n

8 Magical Strategies<\/strong><\/p>\n

When you regularly and thoughtfully work with your child on the following strategies, you will notice an impressive difference in not just the child\u2019s comprehension, but probably in several other aspects of the child\u2019s life as well.\u00a0 When you teach a child to comprehend, you are also teaching a child to empathize, to infer, and to become a more tolerant, understanding person who can think outside of the box.\u00a0 That is precisely why so many children struggle with comprehension\u2014developmentally, it is difficult for children to get beyond literal, concrete understandings.\u00a0 As the child becomes older, especially around 3rd grade and up, it is essential that your child gradually become more aware of others\u2019 feelings and perspectives.\u00a0 That will help him\/her to understand various perspectives in texts, and in life.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Practice these strategies patiently, one at a time, with some favorite books at home, which also happen to be at a comfortable reading level for your child.\u00a0 Remember, the more explicit you make the strategies, the better your child will comprehend.\u00a0 Gradually, your child will begin to implement these strategies independently, but please check in with your child consistently to see how he\/she is progressing.<\/p>\n

1.\u00a0 Make connections<\/strong><\/p>\n

The first of the strategies also happens to be one of my personal favorites, because it\u2019s fun and straightforward.\u00a0 Simply encourage your child to make personal connections to the content of the book he\/she is reading.\u00a0 You could even jot the connections on sticky notes in colorful magic markers and stick them in the book, or make a cute chart of the connections.\u00a0<\/p>\n

There are three different kinds of connections we tend to make while reading: text-to-self, text-to-text, and text-to-world<\/em>.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Text-to-self<\/em> connections are easiest.\u00a0 We merely relate concepts in the book to aspects of our own lives.\u00a0 For example, \u201cI love the lake in this book.\u00a0 It reminds me of our summer vacations when we always visited that lake in New York.\u201d<\/p>\n

Text-to-text<\/em> connections are also fun and easy.\u00a0 Obviously, you just relate the book you\u2019re currently reading to another book you\u2019ve read.\u00a0 Perhaps the characters in this book remind of the characters in a book you read last week.\u00a0 Also, don\u2019t feel constricted by the text-to-text label.\u00a0 I always encourage my students to think of movies and TV shows to which they can relate their books, too!<\/p>\n

Text-to-world<\/em> connections are trickier.\u00a0 With these connections, you want to relate what you\u2019ve just read to a larger, worldly phenomenon, and not just something specific to your own life.\u00a0 This is hard for children, for obvious reasons.\u00a0 Children have little experience beyond their personal existence.\u00a0 They have yet to truly understand the world.\u00a0 Likewise, developmentally, it\u2019s challenging for many children to imagine that other people even have different perspectives than the ones to which they are accustomed.\u00a0 This is where the hard work comes in for both parents and teachers.\u00a0 Encourage your child to think outside the box.\u00a0 Show them in compelling ways that other people may think and behave differently.\u00a0 This will develop over time, so be patient!\u00a0 There more explicit you are with making text-to-world connections, they better your child will become at it.<\/p>\n

2.\u00a0 Infer<\/strong><\/p>\n

Making inferences is similar to the text-to-world connection strategy.\u00a0 In order for children to adequately understand, they must be able to make inferences, yet this is a difficult concept even for some adults to grasp!\u00a0 Gradually work with children on drawing conclusions based on what information they know.\u00a0 Likewise, show them how to make educated guesses, and to look for hints to back up their reasoning.\u00a0 You could make lists and pictures together to help this strategy along.\u00a0 As always, model inferring for your child in an explicit way, so that he\/she can see how you derive conclusions. Do you openly empathize with others?\u00a0 Do you articulate how another may have a different perspective than you?\u00a0 All of these explicitly modeled behaviors will help your child with the all-too important task of inferring.\u00a0<\/p>\n

3. Predictions<\/strong><\/p>\n

An uncomplicated strategy to foster comprehension is to simply ask your child to make frequent predictions.\u00a0 Most parents and teachers make the mistake of only asking children to make predictions at the beginning of a book.\u00a0 Instead, ask children to make predictions at the onset of a book, as well as at strategic points throughout the book.\u00a0 This stimulates their thinking in a number of ways.\u00a0 At the end of the book, discuss with children whether or not they liked the ending.\u00a0 Would they have ended it differently?\u00a0 If so, how?\u00a0<\/p>\n

4.\u00a0 Visualize<\/strong><\/p>\n

One of the best parts of reading is to picture the story or the content in one\u2019s head. Ask children to describe how they picture the characters and the setting in the story. If it\u2019s non-fiction, ask them to draw their own pictures of the content.\u00a0 Another fun activity is to compare and contrast visualizations between book and movie versions of various stories.<\/p>\n

5.\u00a0 Questions<\/strong><\/p>\n

Asking children questions is the simplest and most old-fashioned way to ensure they have understood material.\u00a0 Don\u2019t just ask questions at the end of a given passage.\u00a0 I would suggest stopping at strategic points to see how they are doing throughout a passage.\u00a0 Furthermore, the quality of the questions themselves can also determine the quality of understanding.\u00a0 Most people only ask explicit, concrete questions that only pertain to memory.\u00a0 For example, \u201cwhat color shirt was he wearing?\u201d\u00a0 Instead, I encourage people to ask implicit questions, which are open-ended, and to which there is not necessarily a right or wrong answer, but by which you can still determine how well the child understood.\u00a0 For example, rather than asking what color shirt the character wore, in its place ask \u201cWhy was it important that the character wore a blue shirt?\u201d\u00a0 This causes the child to think in a deeper manner, without having to memorize the color of the shirt, yet you still yield rich insights pertaining to how well the child is comprehending.<\/p>\n

6. Determine importance<\/strong><\/p>\n

When you were in high school or college, did you ever have a textbook that turned a fluorescent color because you couldn\u2019t figure out which passages were important, so you just used a highlighter to highlight the entire text?!\u00a0 This is a common scenario to which most of us can relate.\u00a0 Sometimes, whether it is a text, or some other aspect of life, we have a hard time determining what is important.\u00a0 It often has to do with the difficulty level of the content, and how familiar we are with it.\u00a0 When a subject is overwhelming, confusing, and foreign, it is much harder to determine what is important, than when we are dealing with familiar territory, which is at a comfortable difficulty level for us.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Practice determining importance with your child.\u00a0 Explicitly model how you determine what is important.\u00a0 Show your child how you might look in topic sentences, or at bullet points, titles, or headings to make more sense of a passage.\u00a0 Practice highlighting a passage together.\u00a0 Once children know how to extract important information, they can study better, focus better, and provide adequate retellings and\/or summaries.<\/p>\n

7.\u00a0 Synthesize<\/strong><\/p>\n

Once children can determine importance, they can begin to synthesize.\u00a0 The easiest way I can think of to explain synthesis to my students is to use a weaving metaphor.\u00a0 When we synthesize, we have to take information from different sources, and weave it all together for ourselves.\u00a0 This is no easy task!\u00a0 Imagine a weaver who has to select the best spools of thread, based on her knowledge of thread.\u00a0 Then, she must weave the threads together into one coherent, beautiful piece.\u00a0 That is precisely what successful readers do when they comprehend.\u00a0 They weave the information, or synthesize it.\u00a0 I would suggest putting important facts from a book onto long strips of paper, which could represent threads.\u00a0 Then, think through how you would weave those important facts together, and you could even physically manipulate the papers until you have your own quilt.\u00a0 This activity helps a lot when children have to write research papers, or other written responses to text.<\/p>\n

8.\u00a0 Fix-Up Strategies<\/strong><\/p>\n

Last but not least, simply equip your child to have fix-up strategies at his\/her fingertips upon which he\/she can rely when information breaks down.\u00a0 When you are reading, won\u2019t you stop and re-read something when you know it\u2019s no longer making sense?\u00a0 Well, lots of children won\u2019t do that.\u00a0 They won\u2019t stop!\u00a0 They just keep going!\u00a0 Together with your child, brainstorm and make a list of fix-up strategies.\u00a0 The list could be as simple as \u201cstop, go back, re-read, use a highlighter, predict, ask questions, etc.\u201d\u00a0 It doesn\u2019t have to be anything fancy.\u00a0 The two keys are that your child first recognizes when his\/her comprehension breaks down, and second, knows a few things he\/she can do to help mend that comprehension.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Having explicit strategies at our fingertips is the secret to success when it comes to comprehension!<\/strong><\/p>\n

For more information, I would highly recommend the book Strategies that Work<\/a> by Stephanie Harvey and Anne Goudvis.\u00a0 It is the best book on the market about comprehension, and it is the source of much of the information I condensed for you into this brief article.\ufffd<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

**This article originally appeared on qwowi.com** As a professor specializing in reading, I am frequently asked this question by worried parents.\u00a0 I\u2019m not surprised, considering how complex and confusing comprehension can be.\u00a0 Although there are no \u201cquick-fix recipes\u201d to solve the complexities of comprehension, I can offer some relatively simple strategies.\u00a0 When applied consistently and […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[5,4,10,6,19],"class_list":["post-16","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-reading","tag-childrens-books","tag-childrens-literature","tag-comprehension","tag-literacy","tag-reading"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/christinewoodcock.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/christinewoodcock.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/christinewoodcock.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/christinewoodcock.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/christinewoodcock.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=16"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/christinewoodcock.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/christinewoodcock.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=16"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/christinewoodcock.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=16"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/christinewoodcock.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=16"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}