How To Help Children Comprehend What They Read

Reluctant young readers often spend time perusing pages, decoding each word for pronunciation, and happy when the torturous assignment is completed. When asked about the content of what they read, these learners cannot expound on any part of the topic. Some teachers or parents become frustrated with the readers and blame their lack of attention to storyline on a void of focus and concentration. Whatever the reasons for the failure, adults can help the reluctant young readers grasp what they are decoding by spending time before the reading begins talking about the topic, the characters, and the challenges. Asking students if they've ever experienced a scary accident away from home may get their mind's exploding with moments from their histories that they wish to share with the class. These triggers do not mean that the children are off task; instead, they are connecting with the questions. The adult becomes the guide, listing these adventures on the board. Then asking the students to watch for adventures in the story they are about to read and see which ones are similar to those on the board, helps students focus on the storyline. Discussing difficult words from the story before reading it also helps. I prefer analyzing words for their roots, prefixes and suffixes. Learning these parts of vocabulary can very well expand knowledge and meaning tenfold. A good litmus test to see whether these techniques help with comprehension, is to ask the students who or what they would be if they were added into the story as a character. As an author, many of my followers have begged to be in a story and have provided characters and adventures. Children love to read their own stories where they can act out their unlimited imaginations. These ideas to helping children comprehend what they read assist in creating long term readers.