Simple Strategies to Improve Your Child’s Reading Comprehension

Reading involves a lot more than just sounding out words. It’s about understanding, imagining, and connecting with a story on a deeper level. Strong reading comprehension is essential and can help struggling readers grow into confident ones. If your child sometimes stares at a page without fully absorbing the context and meaning of the words, you’re not alone. With the right strategies and practice, you, as a parent, can help your child develop their abilities and a more profound sense of enjoyment with reading. Here are some comprehension tips and exercises you can try out at home.

Tap into personal experiences.

Young children are still experiencing many things for the first time, but they have a bank of knowledge and personal memories that can help them connect with stories. They will understand the concepts better by relating what they have read to something that’s happened to them in real life. Help them draw on their personal experiences by asking them how a situation in a story made them feel or if they have ever found themselves in that situation.

Make predictions and inferences.

Encourage your little reader to put on their thinking caps by asking them to predict what will happen next in a story. Invite them to imagine what actions the characters might make or what emotions they will feel. By pausing to think about the possibilities and progression of the narrative, children will build a skill for anticipating what’s coming in the following pages, heightening their comprehension abilities. As they work through the meaning of the words, help them use context clues and logic to make sense of the text. If there are words or ideas they have trouble understanding, explain what they mean to them.

Paint a mental picture.

Imagination is what makes reading fun, and children are pros at using their creativity. Make sure to encourage them to imagine the scenes in their minds as they read or take some extra time to look over the illustrations and ask questions. Your mind is more likely to remember something when you can envision it. Try taking a short break to have them sketch out or draw elements, characters, and moments in the story.