Milestones of Early Literacy Development, Parents can help in a variety of ways

A child’s success in reading comprehension is often determined by what milestones of early literacy development they reach.

These milestones can include phonological awareness, vocabulary development, comprehension skills and fluency in reading. Mastering these concepts in early childhood is critical for a child’s academic success and cognitive development. While these skills are learned early on, they impact every subject a child will encounter in school.

And those who can establish themselves as strong readers go on to be successful in other subjects like math, various sciences and history because of their advanced comprehension skills.

Laying the Foundation

Working on these skills can begin when the child is 6 months old, well before they are able to begin pre-school (or Kumon) at 3 years old. At that age, learning the developmental foundations of literacy can begin by looking at pictures and pointing to pictures before moving onto more complex cognitive functions. Before age 3, they can work on filling in words to stories, reciting parts of well-known stories, coordinating text with pictures, reciting whole phrases or reading familiar books to themselves.

During these early stages, parents can help in a variety of ways, including reading at bedtime, asking questions, pausing to let a child complete a sentence and letting them control the book. But parents can also be the first to notice whether a child is struggling during this time.

Maybe the problems first emerge as they try to recognize sight words, or in their speech and blending sounds together. Those issues can quickly become frustrating obstacles without a specific approach identified for them to learn.

These skills build to help their reading fluency, comprehension, critical thinking and the reinforcement of what will become their independent reading habits that will help them throughout their lives.

Sponsored by Kumon of South Beaverton located in Progress Ridge. To enroll, call 503.639.7219 or visit us online at www.kumon.com/south-beaverton .